


Death is Not Easy

by spitshineboi



Category: Antiope - Fandom, Antiope/Hippolyta - Fandom, Antiope/Menalippe - Fandom
Genre: AU, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Backstory, Birth, Canon Backstory, Death, F/F, Happiness (for a while), Monkeys (why not?), My version of canon, Pre-Canon, Real Life, Teaching, Training, War, does anyone read these?, marraige
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 10:05:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14788455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spitshineboi/pseuds/spitshineboi
Summary: Death is not easy. It brings up thoughts that are better left alone. But, it also brings back memories, sweet, bitter, sad, and joyous memories. Memories that may have been forgotten but now are in the forefront of your brain. You do not want to forget these memories again. So, you cherish them, even the horrible ones, and you try to remember them for the rest of your life.





	1. The First Memory

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all.
> 
> I realize that the first chapter is a very dark chapter. I made it that way because the memories that one has for the dead are not always pretty or nice. The ending of this chapter holds hope, something I want to exploit in the next chapter. Hurt and joy follow each other.
> 
> But do not fear. All is not sad despite the fact that this is a story of a death; it is also a story of a life. And the story of that life is full of bad AND good. I plan to write my canon of that life. Forget the "historical" representations of this character. Forget the DC representations of this character. This story is my representation. 
> 
> Thank you for reading. As usual, comments are most welcome. I get very few comments and often wonder if it is because the stories stink... but I don't think so. Comments truly help me in writing what follows. 
> 
> A couple of definitions  
> Anassa**********high queen  
> ypolochagos*********lieutenant  
> xiphos**********short sword  
> Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori**********How sweet and honourable it is to die for one's country
> 
> Again, thank you all. I've been working on this story for a long time now. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you.
> 
> Donna

Death is Not Easy  
(Mors est non facile)

 

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

Chapter 1

 

Death is not easy. It brings up thoughts that are better left alone. But, it also brings back memories, sweet, bitter, sad, and joyous memories. Memories that may have been forgotten but now are in the forefront of your brain. You do not want to forget these memories again. So, you cherish them, even the horrible ones, and you try to remember them for the rest of your life. 

Sitting next to Antiope's body on the beach, sobbing and holding her hand, listening to Menalippe keen, and Diana begging Antiope to come back, Hippolyta remembers… everything.

^^^^^

The day after the first battle for Athens Hippolyta was, once again, on the battlefield, searching for her sister. Antiope hadn't come home from the battle yesterday. It was freezing cold and snowing lightly. The wind, what there was of it, was blowing from the north. The field was full of the dead, with a few grievously wounded that hadn't yet been collected by the enemy healers. They probably wouldn't be found in time and would die before the healers got to them. C'est la guerre.

Hippolyta stopped yelling Antiope's name hours ago, and, with her guards, started looking among the dead for her sister. Hippolyta was heartbroken and she was crying most of the time as she searched. Every blond Amazon body that she found broke her heart, until she turned them over or saw their faces and, then, she felt relief. She felt guilty every time it happened though. Guilt was definitely part of her reason for crying. In the late afternoon Hippolyta sat on the field, under a willow tree, her head in her hands, weeping. There was no sign of her sister. She had looked everywhere, and she couldn't find Antiope anywhere. She lifted her head and looked at her guards here and way across the field, and at those collecting the dead, hoping she would hear a call from someone saying they found her body. No yell came. 

Hippolyta felt a hand on her arm. She looked around quickly and saw that it was Phillipus, ypolochagos of her personal guards. She hadn't heard her horse as she came over to her. In a quiet, calm voice, Phillipus said "We've found her. You need to come with me Anassa."

Hippolyta jerked up from the ground and ran to the horse Phillipus had brought for her, Phillipus right behind her. They mounted and Phillipus led them to the other side of the battlefield. She saw, as they drew closer, that some members of her guard and members of the body recovery team were clustered around a specific area of the field. Once there, Hippolyta quickly dismounted, her heart in her throat, and ran towards the group. She steeled herself to find Antiope's body. She found something else instead.

Antiope was kneeling on the snow covered, bloody field, caked with blood, rocking back and forth, cradling someone's body in her arms, keening quietly. Her voice was nearly gone and around her was a great circle of enemy dead, all with Antiope's arrows in them. Her bow lay, forgotten, half-frozen in the mud. Hippolyta, quietly walked over to her sister and knelt down next to her. She put her hand on Antiope's lower back and rubbed gently. Antiope was freezing cold; she had, obviously, spent the last day and a half here. She slowly leaned into her sister's hand. Hippolyta quickly moved closer, sat down, and took Antiope into her arms. Antiope leaned against her muttering something that sounded like "I've killed her" over and over again. Hippolyta just held her sister close and did what she could to ease Antiope's pain. In the background, she heard the sound of a horse running from where they sat.

Sometime later, Hippolyta again felt a hand on her arm. It was Phillipus. "We have a stretcher here for her now. I don't believe that Antiope is fit to walk next to the stretcher or even ride a horse back to the camp alone. She should ride in front of you."

Hippolyta nodded and then began to talk to Antiope quietly. Antiope quickly pulled away from her sister and held the body closer to her own. She started wailing and keening again and when Hippolyta reached for her she jerked away. Hippolyta hung her head and shook it slowly from side to side. Antiope stopped keening after a time and started to mumble again.

"Bring furs and cloaks for the both of us," Hippolyta said. "Also, get a fire lit. Make sure it is large enough that it keeps us all warm. I plan to spend the night with her. I expect the usual guard schedules be kept down here. Let all of the ypolochagoi know that I am spending the night with my strategos. There will be no meetings." 

Phillipus, who stood near her, silently saluted and turned to order her guards to do these various things. Four of the guards immediately began to move the enemy's bodies, quickly divesting them of armor, weapons, and shields before carrying them away. Another two rode off to get the things requested and pass on the messages to Hippolyta's other ypolochagoi. Phillipus removed her own cloak and passed it to Hippolyta who immediately put it around Antiope's shoulders.

"Thank you," Hippolyta said to Phillipus, "Please make sure the fire is close and set it quickly."

^^^^^

The night was extremely cold and it snowed, on and off, through-out the night. Hippolyta was very happy for the cloaks and furs that covered both her and Antiope's bodies. The nearby fires, the guards had lit four, felt glorious. The only trouble was it unfroze the ground and the detritus of death, with all the smells of blood, vomit and shit, was close around them. Small price to pay. Hippolyta held Antiope all night and, sometime around nine in the evening, Antiope fell asleep in Hippolyta's arms, still holding the body close. Soon after, Hippolyta fell asleep also, still holding her sister. They both slept fitfully.

At dawn, the next day, as Apollo's Chariot started its travels across the sky, Hippolyta woke and squeezed her sister tightly. Antiope woke slowly and turned to her sister. "Thank you," she whispered.

"We must take her in and prepare her for immolation and burial Antiope. Will you let us carry her for you?" Hippolyta said. Antiope didn't move for a moment, she just closed her eyes. Finally, after a time, she slowly nodded acquiescence. Hippolyta squeezed her again and turned to Phillipus. Phillipus had spent the entire night next to them making sure they had everything they needed for warmth and comfort. Being able to trust Phillipus completely was one of the things Hippolyta loved most about her guard ypolochagos. She could trust her. 

"Yes," she said quietly. Phillipus understood, rose from her heels, and called for guards to bring the stretcher.

^^^^^

Antiope rode in front of Hippolyta being cradled by her older sister. They rode slowly so that they wouldn't get ahead of the stretcher. It took nearly an hour to get to the camp. Once there they were stared at by most of the warriors they saw. This bothered Hippolyta and made her wish this wasn't the case. But her wishes didn't matter, it was just so. When they came to the huge pavilions used to clean the bodies and prepare them for the pyre, Hippolyta dismounted first and then helped Antiope dismount too.

The two walked into the pavilion together, while the Queen's Guards, who carried the body on a stretcher, followed. The Guards set down the stretcher and left. Everywhere there was death; the smell was unbelievable and nearly unbearable. There were six Amazon priestesses and ten Amazons working in the large pavilion, but, surprisingly, no mourners. It was quiet. It's said that death, or the absence of life, is the quietness thing on earth. Nothing is as quiet as the dead.

Antiope's tears had started to fall again as they walked into the pavilion. Hippolyta soon found herself sniffling too. Antiope knelt by the stretcher that carried her love and cradled her in her arms. Hippolyta knelt and held her sister tight. Two Amazons came to them and lifted the body's stretcher and carried her to the back of the pavilion. Antiope, without saying a word, rose and followed behind them. Hippolyta followed her sister.

The body was put on a table in the back and the stretcher was discarded onto a large pile of them. The priestess started to undress the body when Antiope said "Stop. Please? I wish to do this for her."

The priestess smiled and took a step back from the table. "Certainly, I shall let you do this. It's always nice when someone close to the deceased wants to help. It doesn't happen often. I will stay here to guide you through the proper ceremonies. I will get the oil and dried hyssop flowers as well as water for her cleaning," she said as she walked away towards a storage area to get the needed supplies.

Antiope reached down and ran her fingers through Iole's corn-silk blond hair. She finally bent down and kissed her Iole. 

Hippolyta stood closely behind Antiope in case she was needed. She didn't understand this. Antiope never acted like this. She was the strong one; the one who was so understated and stoic. Hippolyta felt horrible. Had she totally missed something that was happening in Antiope's life? What had she not seen? After wondering for a while she came out and asked, softly, "Antiope, who was she? Why is she so special to you? I think she's one of your lovers, but I've never seen you like this."

"We were supposed to be married," Antiope quietly answered. "She asked me the night before the battle. I said yes. It was late and we didn't have time to come to you and ask permission as is prescribed. We decided to come to you after the battle and ask."

Hippolyta felt like she had been hit by a brick. "What?' she said incredulously.

Antiope, who had stopped crying, turned to look at Hippolyta, with an angry look on her face. Was that hate in her eyes? "Yes Hippolyta, her name was Iole and we were in love and had been for quite some time." Antiope answered. "I told you more than once and every time I did, or tried to, you cracked some stupid joke about me loving another whore. I tried to explain our intimacy. Again, nothing from you. Did you even notice when I started leaving meetings as soon as I could? Did you even notice that I stopped coming over and visiting or eating with you? Did you even notice when I stopped talking to you except for conveying reports and statistics? No, you, did, not!" 

She then turned back to Iole and started crying again. She slowly ran her hands through Iole's hair again. "I did as you asked, my heart. I never said anything. You said that she would change; that she would come around. All I needed was patience. That you'd be there for me. Now even you are gone."

Without saying another word, she picked Iole up and walked out of the death pavilion. 

Hippolyta's mouth hung open. She had no idea what to do. She turned and looked at Phillipus, then looked back to where Antiope had left the pavilion. She turned back and looked at Phillipus again. All she could get out before starting to sob was "Take what she needs for the ceremony to her. Help her. Please. Take the priestess with you."

^^^^^

Hippolyta woke in the morning in her own bed. She had no idea how she got there. Had Phillipus brought her? No, she was still dressed in her bloody chiton from yesterday. She must have sobbed herself to sleep. Phillipus would have undressed her. Who had brought her here?

"Is anyone here?" she said loudly.

Enchesimargos, Phillipus' second, came into the pavilion's bed chamber and saluted. "Yes, my queen?"

"Who brought me here? What about my sister? Has Phillipus returned?"

"I brought you here my queen," Enchesimargos said. "Phillipus has not yet returned. I know nothing about your sister. Shall I send one of your attendants in to you?"

"Yes," Hippolyta said quietly, "Please do. Send someone out to find my sister and Phillipus too."

She watched Enchesimargos leave and Menalippe, her Seer and one of her ypolochagoi, enter the tent a moment later. "I'll dress you my queen," she said. She quickly and expertly removed Hippolyta's chiton and started washing her. Once done, she dried Hippolyta and helped her put on an extremely pale green peplos, then put her sandals on her. Menalippe then walked over to Hippolyta's chair.

"Sit please," Menalippe said.

Hippolyta came over and sat in the chair specified and looked at Menalippe. She stopped herself from saying yes sharply and waited for Menalippe to sit and talk. Menalippe pulled a chair over in front of her and sat. Then they stared at each other for a few moments.

Finally, Menalippe said "You've hurt her so badly Hippolyta. How are you going to fix this?"

"I don't know," Hippolyta answered quietly.

"Would you like to know what I think you should do Hippolyta? You probably won't like it."

"Yes," Hippolyta said softly and immediately.

Menalippe sighed. "You asked Hippolyta," she said. "I would leave her alone for a time. Let her grieve in her own way. Let her hate you." She held her hand up to stop Hippolyta before she started to say something. "She feels completely alone," she said "and abandoned by those whom she loved. She thinks that life, now, is worse than it was when she was first alive and married despite the beatings and multiple rapes. At least, then, she had friends. She wishes she were dead but won't kill herself because of her love for her soldiers, not you. And Hippolyta, remember, at this point, she needs to hate you. Completely and totally. Let her hate the ground you walk on." 

Hippolyta bowed her head and started crying softly.

"She needed a sister, someone to talk to, to listen to her fears, to meet and approve of her love. She didn't get that. She remembers what it was like when she first awoke, the joy of being around you, but that was long gone. It died slowly and left completely just after you were crowned Anassa."

Menalippe took a deep breath, "Iole was one of Penthesilea's common soldiers but the way they looked at each other… was magical. It was definitely a love that should have lasted forever. However, Antiope never let her heart rule her as strategos. You know that Hippolyta. She knew that much of Penthesilea's force would die in this battle; that without their deaths the battle would be lost. She didn't expect it would kill her love. She blames herself Hippolyta. She wouldn't change her orders, even if she could, as they alone saved the day. So, in her mind, she killed Iole. Finally, she came upon Iole before she died and held her and spoke with her while she bled out. She, at least, got to tell Iole that she loved her, but the guilt she is carrying has enveloped her entirely."

Menalippe stopped talking and reached a hand over to touch Hippolyta's shoulder. "But, all is not lost Hippolyta. You can start fixing this right away."

Hippolyta looked up at Menalippe, hope in her eyes. "How?" she asked.

"Simple. Let Phillipus stay with her. She knows how much you trust Phillipus, she knows how you truly feel about Phillipus."

"That's it?" Hippolyta asked, not really understanding what Menalippe said.

"That's it. Trust me Hippolyta. You showing how much you care by that simple act will get through to her. Trust will come slowly and love will come even slower, but she will come around. I've Seen this."

Hippolyta nodded her head then put her hands in her palms and started crying again. 

Menalippe stood, then said "I'll send in Enchesimargos again. You should make her your temporary ypolochagos. Get yourself together Hippolyta." Then she walked out.

^^^^^

The priestess and Phillipus helped Antiope bathe and anoint Iole's body on a table outside of their shared tent. The priestess chanted the proper invocations for Iole as Antiope anointed her with sacred oils. Antiope dressed Iole in her finest clothes and placed a gold obolus on her tongue. She then placed a wreath she had woven on Iole's head. With Phillipus' she cut, brought, and arranged a funeral bier behind their tent. At some point some members of Iole's hippeis, or cavalry unit, came, with Penthesilea in the lead. They gathered wood for the bier and also stones for the cairn. Antiope sang and extoled Iole's story. She sang of her strength, her passion, her love. Two members of her hippeis moved Iole's body onto the bier, after she kissed her Iole again, and Antiope set it ablaze, just as the sun set.

Antiope knelt in front of the burning bier and watched it burn for hours, feeding the fire as needed, through-out the night, until there was nothing left. She then poured wine over and gathered the ashes into a krater the priestess had brought and, at dawn, walked it over to the grave Iole's hippeis had dug for her. Antiope placed the krater within, then put Iole's armor, her sagaris, her sword and knife, the head of her favorite lance, her shield, and her helmet in with her as grave offerings. Then she pulled out a chain from around her neck, and the tiny silver coin on it, and grasped it sorrowfully. The tiny coin was a simple, small, silver obolus. She placed it into her love's krater and murmured, "I love you Iole" Finally, she filled and tamped down the grave and built the cairn above it with the others' help, and then she just walked away. Iole's hippeis left also. The priestess smiled at Phillipus and then she left. Phillipus didn't follow Antiope. She went back to Hippolyta.

^^^^^

Hippolyta was shocked when Phillipus walked back into the command tent. "What are you doing here?" Hippolyta asked.

"I'm here to serve you my queen," Phillipus answered, a bit perplexed.

"No," Hippolyta replied somewhat sharply. "You are to watch over Antiope until she returns. If that is days, so be it. Weeks, so be it. Months and years, the same. Help her in any way that you can. If you need money, send someone to me. She is your friend so treat her as such. Understood?" Hippolyta sighed, "Please?"

Phillipus spent a few moments turning around the fact that she was being sent away but got over the pain that caused her quickly. "Yes, my queen," she finally said, then asked "Who will take my place here?"

"Enchesimargos," she answered. "Your position is safe however. When you finally return you shall have it back, so don't worry." Hippolyta sadly smiled for a moment. "I know you will take good care of her Phillipus. I trust you."

Phillipus smiled briefly then said "As you wish my queen. I must leave immediately then so that I can find her."

Hippolyta really smiled, in return, for a moment at least. "Good," she said.

It took Phillipus three days to find Antiope.

^^^^^

Two days after Hippolyta sent Phillipus to find her sister, the next stage of the battle for Athens began. Antiope was the first one over the Athenian walls. Her leadership was vicious. Thousands died. Antiope killed nearly one hundred herself. She had a brutal smile on her face all day.

^^^^^

The day after the battle Phillipus passed by Antiope's command tent while trying to locate her; it was just a pile of burnt poles and ashes. Nothing around it was burned. This had been intentionally set. Finally, near sunset, she found Antiope in one of the tavern pavilions. She looked horrible. She was filthy, her clothing was covered in blood and ashes as was her face and she had her entire kit with her; her armor, her helmet, all her weapons, her shield, her bow and three dozen arrows. All of her kit was well cleaned, sharp, and shone in the dim light. There were no clothes, except what she was wearing, with her. She had been drinking, heavily by the look of it, but she didn't seem drunk. Phillipus remembered that she could drink the entire Trojan army under the table all at once if she wanted to, as she sat down in a chair across from Antiope.

"How are you my friend?" Phillipus asked. Antiope said nothing. All she did was look at Phillipus with a lifeless look on her face for a few moments.

"She's gone," Antiope finally said flatly, "And I am alone. How do you think I feel?"

Phillipus stopped for a moment. Should she tell Antiope that Hippolyta worried about her and sent Phillipus to help? Finally, she decided against it. "Horrible," Phillipus said.

"I'd say you won the lottery Phillipus," Antiope answered. "Now, what do you want to do to me as your prize? Hmmm? Slay me? Dig my heart out with your xiphos? It certainly is better than anything I can think of at the moment. You decide."

'I'd say more wine actually," Phillipus answered turning to the tavern keeper and pointing to Antiope's mug before pointing to herself. "Then find you a place to sleep and get you cleaned up and settled down for the night."

"Why are you doing this?" Antiope asked.

"Because I am your friend."

"Truly, you? You're not being a toady?"

Phillipus smiled and said, truthfully, "No, I am your friend." The wine arrived and they both drank in companionable silence.

^^^^^

Antiope ran the next officer's meeting a week later. She still looked filthy. Her tunic was tattered, rent, and had numerous large and ugly stains on it. She looked haggard. She looked wrung out. It didn't look like she had eaten since the last battle, but she wore her leather armor well, even if it was now too big on her. They discussed marching plans and the acquisition of new recruits from the steppes, the Thermodon, and elsewhere as so many of Penthesilea's hippeis had been killed at the first battle for Athens. They discussed how best to train during this winter season and what kind of weapon and soldiers were needed by each ypolochagos. Antiope made sure that everyone was alright, had a good training plan, sent a messenger to the armory and to the smiths, with instructions on what was needed, and then left. The ypolochagoi looked at each other.

"I wish she would eat," said Orana.

"And sleep," Artemis added.

"And bathe," Enchesimargos, the newest member of the officers' counsel, said.

"She will in time. We must give her time" Penthesilea said, shaking her head from side to side.

Menalippe just sighed. "She'll get better. I've Seen it."

The others agreed. They rose and left. This was going to take much longer than most of them thought.

^^^^^

Phillipus and Antiope became very close. It was an absolutely wonderful day when Antiope first smiled and laughed. And again, when Antiope played a joke on Phillipus, or teased Phillipus. Antiope did her office well. She led three different battles since her beloved was killed. Each battle was won. She had acquired another command pavilion with three rooms in it; one room for her, one room for living, eating, and working at the large table therein, and a room for Phillipus. They both kept their arms and armor in the living area. Their shields were leaning on the walls therein.

Four days after Iole was interred, two days after the second battle for Athens, Phillipus watched Antiope go into the throne chamber of Hippolyta's massive command tent and give a very succinct and to the point report on the strengths and weaknesses of the army and what needed to be done to fix the problems. She heard Hippolyta ask a question and Antiope answering. Then Antiope walked out of the chamber, turned to her and said "Let's get a drink."

The next time she had to report she just walked into the presence chamber without being announced, to give her report. Afterwards she didn't need or even want to have a drink but, instead, wanted water. They did go to a tavern, their favorite, but only to sit and play petteia for a few hours, eating nuts and dried fruits, drinking copious amounts of water, while joking about what had happened at the meeting and the look on Hippolyta's face when she had gone into the presence chamber without being announced; both excited and scared.

And Phillipus lovingly thanked and sacrificed to Aphrodite the evening Antiope asked her where she could find someone who might want to have sex with her in the camp. Phillipus laughed and told her that she was admired by her warriors and all she really needed to do was pick someone she thought comely, ask her, and make her needs known. Antiope did that and the woman she asked was more than happy to accommodate her. Antiope smiled happily the day after. The woman, her partner from the night before, seemed to have some trouble walking but had a huge happy grin on her face too. 

One day, nearly a year after Iole's death, Antiope surprised Phillipus by saying she wanted to talk to Hippolyta. Phillipus graciously said she would set the meeting up and ran off to do so. They were to meet at noon the next day in Hippolyta's pavilion.

^^^^^

During the morning audiences the next day Hippolyta was a little sharp at times and beyond nervous at others. Once over she ran into her personal bedchamber to get ready. With the help of her Amazon attendant, she changed from her chiton and himation into a simple clean white chiton and sandals. Then she returned to her presence chamber paced for a few hours (moments) until Phillipus came into the room and announced Antiope's arrival with a big smile on her face. Hippolyta, breathless, sat down on her throne in the room. Once she was told to send Antiope in, Phillipus left and Antiope entered. She looked different to Hippolyta, slimmer, stronger, and what? More like Antiope? And wait, was she smiling? She was SMILING!

Hippolyta rose from her seat and watched Antiope walk towards her. She did nothing for a moment and then, regality be damned, she ran to her sister. She held Antiope and cried as she said, time after time, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I should have listened to you. I'm so sorry." Antiope also cried with her until they both started laughing. They ended up sitting on the floor, Hippolyta holding Antiope close, talking about this, that, and nothing at all. After being asked, Antiope told her all about Iole. How they had met, how they pursued each other, how their love was consummated, how they moved in together. Their passion. They talked about the army and about the world in general. They talked about Zeus' promise to find them a safe place to live and about the sacrifice Hippolyta was going to make to get it. It was glorious.


	2. Happy Memories - The Gamos (γάμος) of Antiope & Menalippe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hippolyta enjoyed watching her sister fall in love.
> 
>  
> 
> EXPLICIT MATURE AUDIENCES PLEASE

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

 

Chapter 2  
Explicit Mature Audiences

Death is not easy. It brings up thoughts that are better left alone. But, it also brings back memories, sweet, bitter, sad, and joyous memories. Memories that may have been forgotten but now are in the forefront of your brain. You do not want to forget these memories again. So, you cherish them, even the horrible ones, and you try to remember them for the rest of your life. 

Sitting next to Antiope's body on the beach, sobbing and holding her hand, listening to Menalippe keen, and Diana begging Antiope to come back, Hippolyta remembers… everything.

^^^^^

Hippolyta enjoyed watching her sister fall in love. She had missed this the last time as a result of her own lack of cognizant ability. Antiope was only twelve when Hippolyta died so she didn't see Antiope fall in love then either. And had she? She had no idea, she'd been dead at the time. She enjoyed helping Antiope 'meet' Menalippe (even though they had both 'known' Menalippe for over two thousand years) but she especially enjoyed seeing a side of Antiope she had never seen before. The happiness that sparkled from her eyes during every moment of every day. The way she licked her lips more often when looking at Menalippe. The way she followed Menalippe with her eyes. The joy in her countenance and the way she showed off to Menalippe. By Hermes, she had juggled! Juggled! And, by Aphrodite herself, the look of pure contentedness on her face at all hours of every day and night. And the sexual innuendos? Zeus! They were sooo bad.

She could tell from the way they acted around her when they "consummated" their relationship. Menalippe actually blushed the morning she walked in on them in Antiope's bed. The bed had belonged to Antiope alone but now that bed belonged to both of them. They were more publically sweet and kind to each other. Antiope opened doors for Menalippe. Opened doors, amazing. And they touched each other intimately all the time. From a touch on the arm to Antiope's hand on Menalippe's face. It was absolutely beautiful. All-in-all, they were so cute!

"My queen?" her minister of the treasury asked.

Hippolyta stopped smiling and quickly jerked her head so that she faced her minister. "What?" she asked sharply.

The minister sighed. "We were discussing the amount of money needed to purchase the marble for the statuary you requested my queen."

Hippolyta looked confused. "Don't we have marble here on the island?"

The minister sighed heavily once again. "Yes, we have marble but it is not suitable to carve into such large statuary."

"Why not? Order some."

The minister opened her mouth to answer and then dropped her head to her chest, looked back up, made an extremely tired sound and said, "We can continue this discussion tomorrow. I expect that I might find you better able to focus then." Her minister saluted and walked away.

Hippolyta laughed as the minister left. So that's how she could get her to go away!

^^^^^

It was wonderful to watch Antiope and Menalippe as they made their way through their day. She regularly found them somewhere around the palace passionately kissing. So very sweet. Of course, she hadn't liked it at all when she found them making out on her throne. She and Phillipus hadn't even done that yet. Sisters.

When they broke their fast, their akratismos, at Hippolyta's table the smiles, touches, and looks were wonderful to watch. And the way they talked to each other and what they said to each other. Phenomenal. Antiope had completely lost her left hand at meals. It was always on Menalippe's thigh or her shoulder or her arm or gripping her hand. Menalippe did the same thing to Antiope. The only difference was that she didn't eat nearly as much because she was right handed and, with her holding and touching Antiope with that hand, eating was a bit difficult. 

It was fascinating to watch them get ready to go to training. Their faces and attitudes changed as they prepared themselves. They went from cute little cooing lovebirds to serious and stoic instructors. By the time they left, barely talking, you would almost think they had never met each other in the first place. It was the same, in reverse, when they came back in the evening. Though they probably were more open at the baths, everyone was.

One evening, rather late in fact, there was a banging on her sleeping chambers' door. Phillipus, lying partially on top of Hippolyta and passionately kissing her moaning mouth, with a hand between her legs, screamed into her neck and started hitting the bed next to her head. The banging grew harder and louder. Phillipus growled as she got out of bed and stalked, yes stalked, to the door and flung it open. And guess who was on the other side? Yep, Antiope. But this time she wasn't alone. Menalippe was standing next to her. Hippolyta sat up in her bed and looked at the two. They both seemed a little what? Happy? Scared? Enthralled? Thank the Gods, Menalippe, at least, seemed sorry to be bothering them. 

Antiope forced her and Menalippe's way into the room, pushing Phillipus out of the way as they marched (yes, marched!) inside, and tried to slam the door. Phillipus was able to keep herself inside the room, with some heavy scrambling, by using her body as a wedge. Once inside she huffed and slammed the door closed behind them all. Then she stalked, grumbling, over to Hippolyta's side of the bed, laying her hand on Hippolyta's hip, and sat down next to her, as if to protect her from Antiope.

Antiope looked at Phillipus incredulously for a moment and then asked Hippolyta, quite bluntly "How long can we be away from the training grounds, the palace, and the city?"

"What?" Hippolyta asked. Her head was still a little fuzzy at the moment and she didn't quite understand why Antiope was asking the question in the first place.

"How long can we be away?"

"You tell me sister. I have no clue how long you can be away from the training fields. A day? A week? A month? Forever? No, forever is too long. Don't do that."

Antiope shook her head. "I can't promise that Hippolyta, you know that" Antiope said. "How about five days? Would that be too long?"

Hippolyta turned towards Phillipus. "Well?"

"As far as I'm concerned, at this moment, she can stay away forever," Phillipus grumbled quietly.

Hippolyta looked at Phillipus sharply. Phillipus sighed and then said "Five days would be doable. The four of us Ypolochagoi can hold things down for that long easily. Just give us your training schedule, and your location in case of emergency, and we can do it." Then, licking her lips and looking a bit desperate, she said, "Now, please, go away."

Antiope had an absolutely evil look in her eyes as she smiled, sweetly at Phillipus. "No. I thought we could find out more about you. First, where did you come from? Where were you first born? Was it hot? What was the weather like?"

Phillipus nearly screamed. Getting up and pushing Antiope towards the door, she angrily said "You. Can. Leave. NOW!"

Antiope and Menalippe left laughing, loudly. Phillipus slammed the door behind them and turned around to find Hippolyta standing, nude, very close behind her. She said nothing as Hippolyta put her arms around her neck. Her sensuous smile and intense blue eyes made her cunt clench in such a wonderful way.

"My heart, I love to see you so strong like this. Come to me. Now."

^^^^^

The preparations to leave that Menalippe and Antiope made were fast, furious, and interspersed with intense sessions of kissing and making out. It took them much longer than it should have but they certainly enjoyed the extra time they spent at it. Hippolyta didn't notice any of this as she was too busy enjoying the rest of her night. Phillipus was gobsmacked at dawn the next day. She couldn't walk well at all. The three-day festival of Aphrodesia did start at dusk of the following day. Both sisters were celebrating early and well. 

^^^^^

Five days later, as Hippolyta, Phillipus, and Diana ate their sparse akratismos, Antiope and Menalippe walked in. They sat down at the table and Antiope said "Mmmm, figs. I love figs," as she reached over to them and went to grab two. Hippolyta smacked her hand. Antiope quickly pulled it back and stuck it in her mouth, "What?" she asked.

"Manners," Hippolyta said. "Say hello first."

Phillipus and Diana sniggered. Then both got very quiet and stared at their plates as Hippolyta turned her evil manners eye on them. Phillipus coughed, loudly, and said "Sorry my sweet."

Hippolyta kept that mad and evil look on her face for a moment as she looked at all of them in turn until each dropped their heads to look at their plates. Well, all except Menalippe, who kept her head up and a smile on her face. Then she started laughing. "Got all of you!" she said hitting the table with her palm. 

^^^^^

Time passed, as it always does. Hippolyta watched as Antiope and Menalippe's love grew stronger. The looks and kisses remained, as did their intense passion for each other. But it was tempered by something more. It was tempered by compassion and, in Menalippe's eyes at least, what looked a little like fear.

^^^^^

One afternoon, near the end of Hippolyta's open audiences, she looked up and saw Menalippe and Antiope waiting at the back of the room. Despite their being home, they hadn't bathed and still wore their work faces; calm, quiet, stern, and knowledgeable. She narrowed her eyes at them and then nodded slightly. She finished listening to the dispute between two parties over an ancient olive tree and gave her resolution to the problem. She then stood and said, "Enough for today, I am fatigued. We will continue tomorrow." She walked away from her throne and towards the couple.

"Do you wish to talk here or somewhere else?"

"Your chambers, please? Menalippe answered.

Hippolyta nodded and they walked to her chambers. On the way she requested clear, cool, spring-water, pomegranates, and nuts be sent to her rooms. Once there they only waited a few moments for Phillipus to arrive. She hadn't bathed either. Hippolyta wrinkled her nose. Ick. They talked about nothing until the food arrived and then they all sat down on benches to eat and talk.

After a small sip of water, Antiope took a deep breath, and said "Hippolyta, Phillipus, we are moving out and in to our own house." She then took another sip of water and looked down slightly, waiting.

"What?" Hippolyta asked. She sounded a little hurt.

Antiope opened her mouth to respond but Menalippe spoke instead. "Hippolyta, it's not that we wish to hurt you." Hippolyta noticed an odd look in Menalippe's eyes; was it concern, worry? "We need time to be completely on our own. A place where we can't ask to have wine or water brought to us, or food, or any other thing imaginable. If we want we would have to get it for ourselves. A place we had to clean and keep up. We need a place where there are no guards, or servants there just to bring us food or clean up after us. We need a place of our own."

Menalippe never looked down or away from Hippolyta in any conversation. Whereas Diana, Phillipus, and Antiope did. These two always spoke as equals. And they were equals: one the Queen, the other the Seer of their nation. Hippolyta narrowed her eyes slightly at Menalippe. Was it what she had heard, not the words but the tone of voice, or was it something else? scared her. What was going on?

After thinking a moment, she replied "Of course Menalippe, Antiope." Her saying Menalippe's name first sent the message back that she knew this was about something else but wasn't doing anything about it, wasn't going to pursue it. 'When do you plan on leaving?" she said.

Antiope broke into the conversation then. "Tomorrow?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck. "We've been watching the new buildings near the training field going up and asked the crafts-folk to build us our house a year ago. It's small, only a few rooms, and even I think I can keep it up."

A year ago? Hippolyta thought. That long? Aloud she said "Of course, we can have people here move you in right after akratismos tomorrow." Then she smiled. Antiope would never know about the secret non-vocal conversation the two women had had. But Menalippe could see the worry in Hippolyta's smile.

Phillipus lifted her cup for a toast. "To a new beginning!" she said heartily. The others followed with the toast.

^^^^^

 

Moving in was easy. Setting everything up was relatively easy too. Antiope's learning curve was a little steep in the keeping of the household and the things within it, but her camp memories came back quickly enough. They were both extremely neat people. So, the house never got that bad. Well, except for their armory, but that was always a mess of weapons and armor. 

Menalippe was insatiable. She fucked Antiope absolutely everywhere in their house and on everything in their house too. This was very good, Antiope thought, very good indeed.

When Antiope asked Menalippe to marry her, some years later, in the baths after training, Menalippe actually squealed. She had been expecting it as she had Seen it, but the joyous sound still came out of her mouth. All the other warriors there cheered the two loudly but Antiope's smile alone out-shown everything else in Menalippe's mind. Antiope lifted Menalippe up in her arms, kissing her, and carried her home, both of them dripping wet and nude. Penthesilea and Orana took their arms and armor to the two's house after cleaning and polishing it. They left it just inside the front door so as not to disturb them. None of the ypolochagoi expected to see them the next day and they didn't.

^^^^^^

The wedding took place near the end of winter, in the month of Gamelion (January), the month sacred to Hera. Pavilions had been set up, about a mile from each other, on the fields beyond the training grounds. Early in the morning they were both ceremonially bathed by their wedding attendants from large urns. Menalippe was bathed by Penthesilea, her best friend, and Orana, the woman whose marriage she wanted to emulate herself. Artemis acted as Menalippe's family member, a stern and exacting "mother" if there ever was one! Antiope was one of only three Amazons who actually had an actual family. By blood, not by marriage Hippolyta and Diana, only six years old, and by marriage Phillipus. These were her attendants and, obviously, all were real family members. She was closest to Hippolyta, her sister, who was acting as "mother" for today's rite. And today a new member was joining the family. 

After they bathed they were dried and had soothing, warm oil rubbed over every inch of their bodies, then they were dressed in very simple white tunics and locks of their hair were cut. They each processed from where they started to small, quiet areas nearby where they made obeisance to their patrons, Menalippe to Hermes, Antiope to Ares. Menalippe sacrificed a lamb to her patron. Antiope decided against sacrificing the traditional puppy, that bothered her too much. Who would want to sacrifice a puppy? Nasty Spartans. Yuck. Instead she had Io bring a traveling forge and, after heating it in the forge, she broke her favorite xiphos and left that for her patron in a hole she herself dug. 

After washing and changing, both continued to Artemis' altar, where they came together. There two goats (her favorite animal) were sacrificed, their cut locks of hair were burned, and money was also given as libation to Artemis, Goddess of maidenhood and transition. Again, they washed and changed and moved on to Aphrodite's altar, the next Goddess in the Pantheon. At Aphrodite's altar numerous doves were sacrificed and others set free to fly, and many triangle shaped honey-cakes were also left for her. In addition, her altar was decorated with roses and myrtle leaves and apples and pomegranates. They continued on to the next goddess and did the same, sacrificing the animals that were most important to each Goddess while decorating the altar or making sure that all was as that particular goddess wanted. Then on to the next and next etc., until they came to the acropolis of Themyscira and the great Heraion just after noon.

The guests waited in the plaza outside the Heraion, the great temple to Hera. They were mingling and chatting and drinking from endless barrels of wine and cool spring water as they spread out in the plaza which had numerous torches and lamps and great braziers for light later in the day. There were four great roasting pits where the bulls (soon to be given to Hera) and all the other animals from the sacrifices were being grilled. No-one had eaten so much meat in many, many years! Wonderful hot baked breads were on different tables through-out the plaza. Fresh ground and seasoned chickpeas formed into balls were being fried on some tables while other tables held nuts, fruits, especially pomegranates, cheeses, honey sesame seed cakes, other cakes, and most anything else. The guests were able to graze around the plaza. All were wearing beautiful, new, colorful clothing and garlands, all with at least one violet, were woven into each guest's hair. Ropes of garlands were carried by those revelers dancing as the musicians played. Other garlands were laid on stools and chairs around the plaza, ready to be picked up.

The sound of four great horns cut through the music and chatter. The musicians stopped playing and all the guests rushed to the front of the temple and opened an aisle through which those in the pompe or procession, would walk. The cheering started as the first part of the procession came into the plaza. The procession consisted of two aulis players, one playing a single reed instrument and the other a double reed, playing a lively tune. Then two warriors carrying large bowls of grain with the sacrificial knives, both honed to an impeccable edge, hidden within. Two strong warriors each carrying a large water urn, or Loutrophoros, were followed by two carrying incense burners and two more aulis musicians. Then two sacrificial bulls, Hera's favorite, picked up just outside the acropolis, both bedecked in garlands and flowers, were led by two other warriors. Two more aulis players followed, finally, by the members of the actual wedding party. Menalippe and her attendants came first, and then Antiope and her attendants followed. The final members of the party were two final aulis players. All processed up to the steps of the Heraion, while the guests tossed flowers, grains, and even some fruits at them for good luck and prosperity. A friend of Menalippe slung a pomegranate at her head. Menalippe caught it, made a face at the offender, laughed, and tossed it back like a javelin!

At the base of the stairs was the great altar carved from white, semi-translucent Pentelic marble with blood grooves cut into it to transport the blood from the altar into the flushing pipes that transported it out to sea. On either side of the altar were huge reflecting pools. Both of them had beautiful mosaics of Amazons at war and in love on them. Braziers were set up, merrily burning, just in front of the pools. In front of the altar the priestess of Hera stood. Behind her and the altar all the other priestesses stood. 

The priestess of Great Mother Hera wore a high cylindrical crown called a polos. The polos had a bull skull atop it and peacock feathers cut and hanging from the edges. She was carrying a pomegranate and wearing a great flowing peplos embroidered in gold. There was the priestess of Athena, wearing a flowing red peplos, a Corinthian helmet pulled back on her head and a snake twining up one arm. She carried a spear in the other. The priestess of Artemis, wearing a quiver of arrows and a bow case with bow at her waist and a short simple white chiton. The priestess of Aphrodite, wearing a rose and myrtle garland across her body over her flowing simple, white, long chiton and a diadem shaped like a dove. Slightly behind her stood the priestess of Peitho, seduction to Aphrodite's sexuality and Aphrodite's loving companion. Hestia's priestess wearing a sheer white veil wrapped about her and holding a staff in one hand. The priestess of Demeter, in Her guise of Aganippe (the mare who destroys mercifully), stood wearing a woven wheat harvest braid interspersed with poppies and apples as a diadem. She carried a cornucopia overflowing with fresh cut wheat stalks, freshly made bread, fresh fruits, and nuts and a simple white peplos. At Her side stood the priestess of Kore (Persephone) wearing a diadem of woven green wheat and violets, so many violets. She also carried a cornucopia but hers had green wheat stalks and flowers in it. Kore, like Demeter, also wore a simple white long peplos.

Menalippe and Antiope approached the altar together as the priestess of Hera sang the first invocation to the goddess. The bulls were led forward and the two holding the bowls of grain stood near them. Grain was trickled on the bulls' heads and then water sprinkled on them so the beasts nodded their acquiescence. During this the two sacrificial knives were removed and given to both Menalippe and Antiope, held tight, and, just as the bulls stopped nodded their heads because of the water drops, they plunged the knives into the jugulars of the animals, and then slit their throats. Their heads were held onto the altar while the bulls blood spurted out and spread over the altar, and into the carved blood grooves that took it to the sea. While Antiope and Menalippe held the heads down, they were soaked in blood. 

The priestess of Great Mother Hera did the second invocation to the Goddess and then the prayers following while all eight of the aulis players performed a sweet and slow tune. Behind Antiope, Hippolyta knelt down next to Diana and pointed at and explained what was going on to her daughter. Phillipus stood behind them with her hand on Hippolyta's shoulder. On Menalippe's side, Penthesilea stood, flanked by Artemis to one side and Orana to the other. All looked both happy and awed as they were called to Antiope's and Menalippe's sides to strip, wash, and dress the two in beautifully wrought white linen chitons with golden embroidery in the shapes of beasts sacred to Hera, the cornucopias of Demeter and Kore, and symbols of all the other Goddesses. Over this they wore Tyran purple himations and atop their heads they had wreaths made of myrtle, roses, apple stems and apples, violets and green wheat.

After they were dressed, the priestesses of the goddesses led the way for them and all the other members of the wedding party and climbed the stairs and went into the cella or chancel of the Heraion. Inside the Heraion was a giant pedestal or akroterion, upon which a great blue-grey marble statue stood. This magnificent statue depicted Great Mother Hera, the Goddess of marriages, among other things, on a throne in all her glory, reaching down to those before her with one hand and holding a pomegranate in the other. Once inside the priestess gave the third invocation to Hera and, this time, the wedding invocation asking for long life and happiness for the two. The rite had been changed from the original so that the mention of children was not in it. Once finished, the other priestesses came forward, one at a time, their blessing to the union. The first being the priestess of Aphrodite with her companion Peitho, the goddesses of sexuality and seduction. Then the rest came, one at a time, to do the same. The last was the priestess of Great Mother Hera who, after the third invocation and blessed their union and, finally, pronounced them married. Then Antiope kissed her Menalippe passionately. 

After a moment their families pulled them apart and with much laughter they were set into two long lines headed by the two of them with players, families, attendants, and all the others in the party following. They were then walked to the porch of the temple and presented to the guests. After cheers and calls from said same guests the two started the ancient crane dance with the people behind them as the beginning of their strings of dancers. Anyone who wished could join the back of the two leaders and dance with them around the plaza in labyrinthine coils reminiscent of the Palace of Knossos in Crete and Minos' great labyrinth there. They danced like the cranes while they all sang the ancient chant. They changed places often, running between the two lines. Eight quick steps and then a leap into the air like a crane does when taking flight. With all the missteps the laughter was infectious. 

After a time the crane dance ended and Antiope and Menalippe wandered around the plaza and enjoyed the dancing, eating, petteia playing, and talking that went on until just before dusk, when the two were stolen away to a chariot, surrounded by their attendants carrying lit torches, and driven to their home followed by many of the guests (most actually), all singing, dancing, and carrying torches which were lit as they left the plaza. When Menalippe and Antiope reached their house and debarked from their chariot the wheels and axle were taken from it and set alight and burned to light the area. It was the beginning of a nice bonfire. Their families and attendants, after planting their torches into the ground right outside, led them into the house and showed them both dowry and bride price which were set on a table for them. While they were perusing, oohing and awing at the gold, and fabrics, and household items, and (by all the Goddesses above, YES!) weapons, Hippolyta and Artemis went into their bedchamber to make sure all was set correctly for the two. Once their scrutiny of the bedchamber was done, they came out and removed the wreaths from both Antiope and Menalippe's heads and laid them reverently on the table with the dowry and bride price. The laughing and ribald jokes came fast and furious then and while the laughter and joking continued the two were pushed into said bedchamber and, still laughing, all but Menalippe and Antiope left the house and closed the front door after themselves. The noise from outside, the banging on their door and window shutters, as well as the singing and joking of the guests didn't seem to bother them at all.

The two stood in their bedchamber and stared, lovingly, at each other for a moment. Antiope finally reached over and removed Menalippe's himation, folded it, and set it on the small table in the room. She then knelt at Menalippe's feet and slowly removed her sandals and kissed each foot as the sandal came off. She stood and carefully and sensually untied Menalippe's belt then put her hands on either side of Menalippe's face and kissed her passionately. While doing this Antiope removed the pins holding the chiton on her body and it slid down and off. Antiope then helped Menalippe step out of the garment. Now it was Menalippe's turn and she undressed Antiope in the same manner except she didn't fold the himation, she just tossed it on the floor. Menalippe knelt in front of Antiope as she removed sandals, her belt, and pulled the chiton pins so it dropped to the floor.

Still kneeling in front of Antiope, Menalippe placed the side of her head against her wife's stomach. Antiope enfolded her in her arms and they just stood for a moment. Then she reached down and lifted Menalippe off the ground and carried her to the bed. Setting her down, she joined her wife on the bed and started to kiss Menalippe passionately. Their hands started to wander over each other's body, caressing, eliciting moans from both. Then Menalippe rolled over so that she was astride Antiope. She kissed her Antiope with much passion and their tongues intertwined and explored each other's mouths thoroughly.

Menalippe slowly kissed and nipped her way down Antiope's body until one leg was between her thighs and the other on her side. She lowered her head and took Antiope's left nipple into her mouth and explored it and sucked gently as she pushed her knee into Antiope's center. Antiope moaned and grabbed her hair. Menalippe paid more and more attention to Antiope's nipple, eventually sucking nearly as hard as she could. Antiope's moans became much louder and even more intense when Menalippe traded nipples and worked on the other, leaving her hand and fingers on the one she left. Antiope's hands, having given way from pulling Menalippe's hair, gripped the bedsheets in a white-knuckled and iron fisted grip.

She eventually pulled herself back up Antiope's body and gently kissed her fervently again and then kissed along her jaw line and down the side of her neck. Her hand reached down in between Antiope's legs and felt how wet her wife was. She played soft and seductively with Antiope while she continued to slowly move down towards Antiope's center until her head was just above Antiope's hip. Menalippe gently and slowly pushed two fingers into Antiope feeling Antiope's cunt squeeze tightly around them.

Antiope fondled her own clit as Menalippe bent her head down and kissed Antiope's fingers then went back to her movements in and out of Antiope's body. Soon she was able to put a third finger in and her thrusts became longer and a little faster. Antiope's moaning became strident and forceful as Menalippe's thrusts became stronger still. Menalippe kissed her wife's fingers yet again, feeling the force she was using on herself, while Menalippe moved her arm harder and faster and, eventually, rather easily in fact, put her fourth finger inside Antiope. Antiope's moans turned to louder vocalizations and grunts of pleasure while she pumped in and out of her wife's body.

Menalippe knew that she could easily slip her thumb inside her wife and then form a fist but decided against it. She wanted sex too and, if she used her fist, her wife would be out for the rest of the night. So instead she slowly stretched up and took Antiope's right nipple into her mouth and started to swirl her tongue around it once again. Antiope jerked and then her low moan started to build louder and louder as she came closer to her climax. Menalippe watched while her wife's moans built and then, at just the right moment, she bit down, harshly, on her nipple. Antiope screamed in pleasure and started to shake and tremble as she started to cum. Menalippe slowed her pounding arm and slowly removed it from her wife's cunt. She caught Antiope's gaze and slowly and languidly licked her hand clean of Antiope's wetness. Finally, she crawled back up Antiope and kissed her passionately while holding her close and tight as she continued to cum until she was spent and her breathing slowly came back under control.

Nearly ten minutes later Antoipe lifted her head and looked at her wife's beautiful face. She slowly moved over and their lips came together gently but the kiss deepened rather quickly until, once again, it was all out sexual warfare as their tongues infiltrated and intertwined in their mouths. Antiope's hands slowly caressed her wife and she drew soft and slow lines, pictures, and words on her body. Menalippe shuddered in pleasure and recalled the time Antiope was in a seriously dominate mood (not her usual forte) and demanded that Menalippe tell her what she had said using her soft finger movements. It was incredibly hard at first to understand anything but, after many exciting "stimulation dates", she found herself quite able to do so. It was wonderful to feel Antoipe calling her "my wife" over and over again, almost as an affirmation of their new status. But eventually Antiope's caresses started to get harder and more insistent as her hands slowly starting feeling her hips, her nipples, and her folds.

The feelings in Menalippe's body were exquisite. She never knew what was going to be caressed or kissed or licked or gently sucked on. Slowly the caressing got harder and more insistent and Menalippe started to moan softly and her body chased the fingers and mouth doing this to her. Then the kissing was at her ear slowly following the swirls of it. Being breathed on was so exciting and when the tongue jumped lightly into the inner part of her ear she jumped at the pleasure and nearly screamed at the low exhalation of breath and Antiope's softly whispered "I am going to take you" made her shiver in anticipation. Then, the soft exploration of her jawline and neck starting just below her right earlobe and s-l-o-w-l-y moving along her jaw, then down her neck, spending extra time at the base of her throat, both kissing and sucking. Menalippe's moans became louder and more strident. Then the kissing, licking, and sucking moved to her shoulder where the sucking became harder and little nips were occasionally used to draw her farther into the feelings she was having. Both Aphrodite and her confidant Peitho, were here with sexuality, passion, and seduction glistening in Antiope's mouth. Menalippe shivered again.

Antiope slowly moved down Menalippe's body until she reached her breast. She spent a lot of time on the side of her breast, teasing, sucking, satisfying very little of the urges Menalippe was feeling, only making them worse in such a good way! Slowly her tongue moved over and lightly circled Menalippe's areola again causing shivers to run through her body. Finally, her nipple was engaged; licking, sucking, rolling the hard nub between Antiope's lips and tongue. The sucking slowly grew stronger and just as it almost became too much Antiope's mouth moved away from Menalippe's nipple and down to suck and encircle her navel. Menalippe almost screamed when Antiope's mouth left her breast. Her breathing slowed also but the encirclement of her navel started to bring her breathing rate up again until she was moaning loudly and nearly continuously. The circle got larger and larger until the next lick or nip would be inside her pubic hairs. Menalippe expectantly waiting for that moment to hit… and it didn't happen. Instead Antiope's mouth and tongue went to her foot and started kissing, licking, caressing, and massaging her toes, then the rest of her foot and ankle. This was deliciously extravagant. Once one foot was done Antiope moved to the other and did the same thing there again and starting Menalippe moaning with every breath. Eventually Antiope finished sucking, kissing, and nipping both legs and then she was there. By all the Goddesses above she was there!

Antiope's tongue slowly and lightly ran from the bottom of her luscious opening up to the top and briefly, by Aphrodite, so briefly, brushed her clit. Menalippe jumped and chased Antiope's tongue with her pelvis but it didn't matter. After an odd amount of time and completely at a point that wasn't rhythmically sound, she lightly bit her clit. Menalippe moaned and her wife continued to play with her clit. Then, suddenly, she wasn't there, she was at her opening and licking all around that. Menalippe groaned out her pleasure. Her wife was bringing her closer and closer to an orgasm and she hadn't really done anything yet. By Aphrodite's clit, she hadn't done anything yet! Antiope licked her way up Menalippe's opening harder and finally set her mouth on Menalippe's clit once again which she sucked lightly and then harder and then lightly again. Menalippe's moaning became louder and stronger and Menalippe kept trying to close her legs to cement Antiope's tongue in one place. But, to no avail.

Menalippe's breathing became shallower and shallower and her breaths were louder and louder as all this happened. She was practically screaming as she was brought closer and closer to her orgasm. Then Antiope pushed two fingers into her opening while still circling and sucking her clit. Menalippe sighed as her wife's fingers went into her and then started to moan with each breath. Antiope put another finger in her and slowly pumped in and out as she kept sucking on her clit. She slowly curved her fingers so that they were hitting that exact right spot that felt so… by Artemis' bow this felt spectacular! Harder and harder her wife both sucked and licked and pumped into her. Her breath was loud and ragged. Finally, finally, without any warning whatsoever, Antiope bit down on Menalippe's clit while pushing into that lovely spot within. Menalippe started to cum and it grew better and longer and more intense with each breath. She finally, finally started to shudder and move in that age-old pattern of pure pleasure and joy. She didn't even feel Antiope remove her fingers, she only felt as she was held and then kissed passionately so that she tasted herself on Antiope's lips and tongue. This was glorious.

Later they lay entangled in each other's arms kissing lightly and smiling as they fell asleep.

The dancing and singing while the torches and bonfire burned took up a good deal of the night but they didn't hear it. Their family members pounding on window shutters and doors with no rhythm or pattern, to scare away evil spirits, a good deal of the night was nearly deafening but it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was their love.


	3. Watching Her Prodigy Grow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Antoine watches Diana throughout her life from Diana's birth to Antiope's death. She gives everything to this child, her niece.
> 
> This is chapter three of a much longer work. It is my hope to give life to every part of Antiope's existence. I hope I've succeeded so far.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

 

Chapter 3

 

Death is not easy. It brings up thoughts that are better left alone. But, it also brings back memories, sweet, bitter, sad, and joyous memories. Memories that may have been forgotten but now are in the forefront of your brain. You do not want to forget these memories again. So, you cherish them, even the horrible ones, and you try to remember them for the rest of your life. 

Sitting next to Antiope's body on the beach, sobbing and holding her hand, listening to Menalippe keen, and Diana begging Antiope to come back, Hippolyta remembers… everything

^^^^^

Small, little memories of her sister ran through Hippolyta's head at the speed of lightening.

^^^^^

She screamed in the birthing chair during Diana's birth. The pain was unimaginable. Two midwives' (thank the gods that two of the Goddess Eileithyia's followers were among the Amazons) were there, one by her side, the other between her legs. Behind her, leaning over and holding her tight was her sister Antiope. She talked about how lovely her daughter would be and how the pain would be over soon enough. She spoke of many other things but Hippolyta remembered none of it, save the feelings of comfort her sister gave her as she held her tight. 

Hippolyta screamed, she cried. She ranted, she raged. She yelled and she thundered. Antiope let her, even though she was the one being yelled at and blamed most of the time. Antiope remembered being there for at least three births among her friends from her first life. There was talk of even having her train as a midwife but nothing ever came of it. It might have been because of the bruises, broken bones, and times she couldn't walk, let alone help anyone, due to her own terrors at home. It didn't matter really. She still would have died at the hands of the animals that killed her. And she also remembered the pain of Hippolytus' birth, and the joy afterwards, as she got to know and bond with her child. Antiope mopped Hippolyta's brow once again and held her close as the next contractions overwhelmed her sister.

It was at noon of the second day of labor that the pain really started. Hippolyta had no idea it could get any worse than what she had so far experienced, but it did. Antiope held her closer and kissed her cheeks and brow often as she whispered comforting things into Hippolyta's ears. "It will all be over soon. You are so strong Hippolyta. Let me take your pain." She spoke of their childhood and their dreams and hopes. She spoke of everything and nothing through-out this ordeal. 

She didn't see the looks and smiles the midwives gave to Antiope as the baby, her daughter, was finally born. She didn't see Antiope move down to cut the infant's cord and help bathe and swaddle her niece. She certainly didn't see the love and joy in Antiope's face as she brought the babe to her and helped her hold and feed the infant. She saw nothing save for her child, her daughter, as she was placed in her arms. 

After some time passed, and the afterbirth was delivered, and she was cleaned, and put to bed, she actually did sleep a bit. She woke to find her sister and her child right next to her. Hippolyta could hear the midwives cleaning and putting away their tools. And she knew that was Antiope sitting next to her. It didn't matter. She took the babe into her arms once again and watched her move her lips as she slept. "I shall name her Diana," Hippolyta said.

^^^^^

Hippolyta sat, comfortably, in the family courtyard of the palace watching Antiope play with Diana. Hippolyta smiled as Antiope held both of Diana's hands and helped her walk about. The more she walked the better Diana got and soon Antiope was almost dancing with her niece. But, of course, it didn't last, as Diana soon grew tired and peckish and started to cry. Antiope, making hushing sounds, picked Diana up and cuddled her for a while until she started to fuss again. 

"I believe she loves, wants, and needs her mother at this moment," she said, smiling to Hippolyta. "I certainly can't feed her." 

Hippolyta, smiled and held out her arms and Antiope handed Diana to her. "Dinner is served Diana," Antiope said as she sat down next to her sister and niece. 

Antiope's smile didn't last long. Once she sat down a longing look came over her face. She never let her sister see it. It just wouldn't be right for anyone, especially her sister, it just wouldn't do to have anyone know how much she longed for a child again. Her child. She missed Hippolytus so much at times. This was one of those times.

But Hippolyta did see Antiope's look; she did see the longing; she did see the pain. But she said nothing of it. This was best as she knew how upset Antiope would be if she asked her about it.

Antiope knew that she'd be able to sleep in Menalippe's arms tonight. She knew that this would comfort her as nothing else would.

 

^^^^^

 

Antiope shook her head slightly as she watched Diana pretending to do martial moves up by the stele on the road. She was so ready for training. Yet her mother, Antiope's sister Hippolyta, was completely set against it.

"Diana, I see you!" wafted across the air. It sounded like Acantha the tutor of the week. Watching Diana look over her shoulder and catch the eyes of someone then running away was what made up her mind. As the child ran she turned to Phillipus next to her and said "We need to be up the hill as soon as possible. Get horses. It's time to confront Hippolyta again."

The two quickly rode up to the road near the palace. Every other road came here first before ascending upwards. This was a good place. Once they had pulled their horses off to the side of the road they saw Hippolyta, with Diana in front of her, followed by the Queen's Guard. And, oh good, Diana and her mother were having heated words. This was not going to be fun.

Antiope heard Diana say something about her thinking Diana was ready for training. Antiope sighed. She got her sister's attention and said she could teach Diana a thing or two. But after her saying this Hippolyta did not look pleased and mentioned Antiope's prowess as a reason for not teaching her daughter. Antiope sighed again and then said what was on her mind, not what she should say… "a scorpion must sting, a wolf must hunt." Hippolyta looked angrier than Antiope had ever seen her look before. She spurred her horse while saying something about there will be no training and rapidly started to move away down the road. Antiope waited. Then Diana turned around her mother to look at Antiope. Antiope smiled and nodded her head in acquiescence. Diana knew she would be trained.

A week later Antiope readied the cave near the palace with practice weapons and then snuck into her niece's bedchamber during lunch and left a note under her bed telling Diana when and where to meet.

A couple of hours after sunset Diana ran into the cave, smiling. Antiope tossed her a spear shaft. No point. Antiope had the spear with a point. She showed her the beginning movements of the spear forms over and over again. Diana was obviously learning, she hadn't knocked the shaft into the ground in some ten minutes, but her exhaustion was evident. Antiope sent her home for the evening after deciding how she would let Diana know when they would meet again.

^^^^^

Antiope shook her head; Diana told her that spears were stupid and didn't do well in combat. As Menalippe's wife she knew this to be false. So now what? Ah yes, she'd show Diana her best skill, archery. That should keep her busy for a while. 

Antiope was very exact in her movements in archery. She excelled at it because of her exacting nature. She made Diana do two full training sessions practicing how to best hold the bow explaining that if her handwork was correct on any bow she could shoot it to hit and kill someone. By the end of the second session Diana looked bored, extremely bored. Another two sessions were spent on how to grasp the arrow from the quiver. Any quiver on anyplace of her body. Then two more sessions spent on picking up arrows from the ground or pulling them from someone's body to use. And on and on and on. But that wasn't all. Antiope kept going back to spear training as well. She needed Diana to understand all this knowledge implicitly. She needed it to become muscle memory.

^^^^^

 

Hippolyta laughed when she noticed that Antiope was showing her daughter how everything worked on the island. As if Diana would be anything but queen. Ha! But she supposed it would be all right if she learned how to farm, cut stone, fish, do carpentry and all that. It would only make her a better queen. By all the Gods, this could only make her smarter and better able to handle the day to day struggles of each profession. She was extremely proud when Diana gave her the first blanket she had made. Yes, it was a little ragged but she loved it.

Hippolyta never found out that Diana had given Antiope and Menalippe a much better and more elaborate blanket as a present. They certainly never told her.

^^^^^

Diana had enough of all this other weapons training. She understood the bow and all its uses. It was alright she supposed. And she certainly understood the spear, even if she still hated using one. She had been trained in the sagaris and it was okay. It certainly made her feel strong. But she begged Antiope until she started teaching her the sword. She loved it! But Antiope was much meaner in her training here. It all started with the whole how to feel it and hold it crap as everything else did but then it was so intense!

This intensity, as she called it, might have been part of the problem. Maybe Antiope wasn't thinking about where they were training (uh-huh, sure). Maybe she was too loud or exuberant in her yelling out what she was doing (would that have been too much? Yep.) Whatever it was Hippolyta and her whole troop of Queen's guards found her practicing. She begged her mother for mercy, saying it wasn't Antiope's fault, but her mother had no mercy. She was sent back to the palace and didn't hear the argument that her mother and Antiope had. All she saw was the aftermath. Her mother and Antiope came into her room a couple of hours after she got to the palace to tell her, together? Yes, together. To tell her what her new daily schedule would be like. When she would study and learn and when she would train. She almost squealed in her excitement.

^^^^^

Hippolyta regularly found Diana in her room crying while she complained to the air about what a tyrant Antiope was. She often did this at dinner too, so angry. It made Hippolyta smile. She decided to fix this by showing up every day to watch her daughter train under the eyes of her sister. The only problem that ever happened was that Diana was always looking to her for praise. Antiope saw this and spent years trying to get her to stop. It never worked, until Antiope died saving her life from her search for her mother and praise and for losing focus in that last battle on the beach.

^^^^^

Antiope never told her sister, or anyone else for that matter, how she felt about Diana. The moment she cut the cord at her birth Antiope knew that she loved this child as much, if not more, than her Hippolytus. If she could have birthed her herself she would have. She would have fed this child. She would have jumped through hoops for Diana. She did die for her.

Hippolyta knew how Antiope felt. She saw the longing in her eyes. She saw the tears. She saw the pride. Hippolyta also saw how much Diana loved Antiope. Certainly, it was different, she certainly didn't know about her cousin Hippolytus. She had never seen Antiope act so feminine so it never occurred to her how much and in what ways her aunt cared for her. Diana had no idea what her going to Antiope for teaching meant to her sister. Hippolyta did. She knew that her daughter loved her as a mother more deeply than one can imagine, but she also knew how much Diana adored her aunt. Antiope could do no wrong as far as Diana was concerned. Every time Antiope yelled "Again" or "You are stronger than this Diana" Hippolyta saw how much Antiope loved Diana and she knew it probably hurt when Diana looked to her for approval and not her sister. So, Antiope just pushed her harder and harder. This was good; very, very good.

Antiope was so very exacting when it came to Diana and her learning about how to take care of herself in battle and how to help take care of others. She passed on all of her knowledge and pulled the demi-goddess out of her kicking and screaming. Even her death taught Diana the last thing she could learn from Antiope. She truly learned the meaning of love. That lesson only made sense when Menalippe ran to Antiope screaming just before she died. Antiope and Menalippe loved each other so very much, but Diana came first. Diana finally understood what love meant, it meant dying, if necessary, to save what you loved. Diana was her legacy.


	4. A Wife's Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Menalippe's tale.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

 

Chapter 4  
A Wife's Tale

 

Death is not easy. It brings up thoughts that are better left alone. But, it also brings back memories, sweet, bitter, sad, and joyous memories. Memories that may have been forgotten but now are in the forefront of your brain. You do not want to forget these memories again. So, you cherish them, even the horrible ones, and you try to remember them for the rest of your life. 

Sitting next to Antiope's body on the beach, sobbing and holding her hand, listening to Menalippe keen, and Diana begging Antiope to come back, Hippolyta remembers… everything

^^^^^

Menalippe knew the very first time she met Antiope, on the shores of the river Thermodon, that they would spend the rest of their lives together. But not yet. It would be many years before that happened. 

^^^^^

When Menalippe was sold as a slave she was bought by the owner of a farm very close to where Hippolyta and Antiope were sold. She felt for the two of them. Antiope was always just something to beat and rape. Hippolyta, however, was forced to marry the beast and became mistress of the farm. She ran everything except for one thing, she was never able to get the monster to leave her sister alone. This "husband" of hers raped Antiope nearly every day and oftentimes more than once. He beat her constantly and gave her body to anyone who visited the farm. But he always let Hippolyta take care of Antiope after the fact. Maybe to show her what he would do if she turned against him. She didn't know. 

Once when Menalippe's master came to visit this man, and while he, himself, raped Antiope, they sat inside the house and heard Antiope's desperate screams throughout the hour while Menalippe and Hippolyta sat there spinning. Hippolyta cried as she spun. "She'll be dead sometime very soon," Hippolyta mumbled as she wept.

After the men came in they were ordered to go and make Antiope ready for "the party" tonight while the men drank and laughed. Menalippe went with Hippolyta to tend to Antiope. They found her inside the barn, unconscious, half laying across an old olive press used just the week before. There was blood nearly everywhere in the barn and Antiope was very bloody and bruised. Her forehead had been cut somehow and she had bled a lot. It ran all down one side of her face and chest. Her arm looked broken. She was nude, the remains of her meager clothes were thrown about the floor. The worse though, the absolute worse, was she was chained to a stake pounded into the floor. She wouldn't have been able to move more than six feet from that stake in any direction. Both of her arms were chained by shackles that had cut horribly into her wrists. She looked dead. When Hippolyta saw Antiope, she gasped and ran to her, and when she turned her over completely they could both see the black eyes and broken nose and she started to cry.

"How can I help you Antiope?" she wailed. "what can I do to help you?"

They did the best they could to make Antiope presentable. They washed the blood off her and splint her arm. They found an old chiton for her. It was nasty, dirty, tattered, and old, but it was something. It was also something they could get on her while shackled. They took her off the olive press and laid her on the ground. Hippolyta covered Antiope with her own himation like a blanket. They gathered up the tatters of Antiope's clothes to form a pillow. They made her as comfortable as they could while wearing shackles. They cleaned her with fresh water. It was all they could do. Hippolyta kissed her sister's forehead, her cheeks, her lips. Antiope never woke while they tended to her. Hippolyta cried while she worked and she was still crying when they went back into the house. The beast that was her husband kissed her gently on the forehead and commanded her to start the final preparations in the triklinion, or dining chamber, for this evenings guests. He told her there would be ten guests with their wives or consorts, Amazons all. As she helped prepare the room a metal eye hook was being attached to one of the house beams in the triklinion. This did not look good.

The feast that evening began as many others had at the farm. Hippolyta was quite comfortable and felt a little safe, she even let her guard down somewhat during the meal. She was actually enjoying herself as she got to interact with the other Amazons. Then the feast was over. The beast asked two hoplites to go and get Antiope. They left the hall and, a few moments later came back into the room dragging Antiope by her chains. Hippolyta jumped up in shock. She watched Antiope fight, she even tried to bite these hoplites, but one just slapped her face causing another spurt of blood. Antiope started to scream as she was chained to the eye hook and lifted up into the air dislocating one of her shoulders. Hippolyta tried to run to her sister but another hoplite grabbed her by the arms and kept her at the side of the room.

"Tonight, we will have an interesting event," the beast said, laughing. "I am going to let any and all of you rape this Amazon whore and we will drink and laugh at this entertainment."

Hippolyta screamed then. She had never actually seen men do this to her sister, only heard it. But this was too much! She broke away from the hoplite holding her and ran to her sister. She grabbed Antiope's legs and tried to hold Antiope up, taking all of her weight on to her own arms and shoulders, screaming as she did so. A moment later the other Amazons, none in chains themselves, ran to help her. Together they pulled Antiope down from the eye bolt and laid her on the floor. The beast laughed long and loud and led the men from the house and down the road to the local tavern, as he left he yelled "If anyone is missing or anything broken upon our return, I will personally kill that whore." As he left he threw a key on the floor. It was the key to Antiope's chains.

Hippolyta held Antiope as she cried and screamed in pain. Her chains were removed and one of the other Amazons there, Gogiki, popped her shoulder back into place and then started to set her broken arm. Once that was done Gogiki set Antiope's nose and many of her fingers. Antiope never cried out again, she just whimpered until she passed out. Hippolyta held her sister with her head in her lap trying not to disturb her so-called rest. Antiope looked horrible. The bruises on her face alone were ghastly but the internal injuries must have been beyond belief. After a time, with the help of the other Amazons there, Antiope was washed and then taken into one of the spare sleeping rooms and put to bed. Hippolyta lay down next to her sister and held her close. It was all she could do. It wasn't enough, nothing would ever be enough, but it was all she could do. The others found places to sleep on the floor and, after finding blankets, curled up together and slept.

Morning came early and, with it, the Amazons were gathered up and led away by their owners. Many were shaking their heads in disbelief, this had been such a disturbing night for many of them. At the end only, Hippolyta and Menalippe were still there. The two masters were talking downstairs. The two didn't speak until Menalippe said "There must be something she can do that no other can do." Hippolyta said nothing. She just softly stroked her sister's hair. Menalippe was called down to her master. She knew better than to speak as she rushed from the room.

As she left the room Hippolyta said "I will find something that only she can do."

^^^^^

Time passed. Hippolyta refused to sleep with her beast of a husband. She believed that he realized he had gone too far as he didn't bother her at all. Antiope healed, at least her body did. 

And Hippolyta thought of something her sister could do that none other was capable of doing. Antiope was a farmer and a breeder of animals for both meat, milk, and wool. She informed her beast of this and he actually put Antiope to work doing what she did best. His crops had never been so good and the yield was fantastic. After taking her with him to the market after the first harvest, he sent her alone from then on out. Soon she was taking care of his animals as well, doing everything from breeding sheep, cows, goats, pigs, and horses to the killing of them for sacrifice and meat. Within a few years she was traveling the countryside looking for good breeding stock and purchasing it for home. She found positions for others, mostly Amazons, to herd and care for these animals and for the crops. When she left the farm right after the harvest sale, she would be gone for months doing what she needed to do.

Hippolyta took her beast back to her bed, begrudgingly, and, while acting as lady of the manor she came up with an idea. How to set the Amazons free. It started simply; Antiope bought two spears, two swords, two shields, and a bow with two dozen arrows She and Hippolyta learned to use them. Antiope told other Amazons about their use and showed them methods that she came up with on her rounds of the countryside. They showed others how to use weapons. v This was the beginning of the Amazon revolt.

^^^^^

Menalippe, as a Seer, worked closely with the two sisters planning the revolt. After years of practice, all the Amazons became very good with their weapons and even found weapons of choice. Antiope learned everything fast, very fast, and well. She passed the knowledge on and it was passed over and over again. All the Amazons became excellent fighters in the years that followed. Years passed and the Amazons were sold to new owners or passed down as chattel through wills. They continued to train and learn weapons. The three of them, Hippolyta, Antiope, and Menalippe, planned when this up rising would occur. Two years after they made the final decision, and Antiope passed the word to all of the other sisters they could find, the revolt began.

It started with knives pushed into or slashed across the necks of those men who slept with their Amazon prisoners. They unchained and released other Amazons who did the same with others. The cities, towns, and countryside were filled with the sound of the Amazonian war cries and men dying by the thousands. Women were given a choice to join or die. Many joined, but not all. Boys were rounded up and placed in stockades where they were left with food and water; someone could find them later and, therefore, some survived. Girls were automatically given the choice to join the new Amazon nation. Most did. They were trained in the arts of war. Thus, the ranks of the Amazons grew.

The first large city that the Amazons attacked was Troy. The battles were bloody and many Amazons died, but numerous others joined their ranks. The Amazons put a man on the throne as king who treated women fairly, who championed their cause. This man's name was Priam. The campaign was a total success. Antiope proved herself gloriously. Afterwards winter-camp was made nearby.

It was during this first winter-camp that Menalippe had her heart broken by Antiope for the first time. She watched Antiope fervently, saw her laugh and fight and play. Saw her fall in love, though it pained her to see it. She watched her fall for another woman, one Iole. They seemed so very happy. Menalippe remained stoic. She knew she had seen the two of them together more than once in her visions. Could it have been a mistake? just her wishing for something? She didn't know, but she sure hoped not.

Two long years after that first winter camp, at the first battle of Athens, Antiope lost her love and nearly gave up on her life. She didn't care in the second and third battle whether she lived or died and she fought as such. The fighting was vicious and Antiope's personal death count rose to nearly three thousand. She didn't care whether she lived or died and it was obvious in her methods. But, oh how her soldiers loved her for it. She was so obviously their strategos. Their true hero.

With this designation Antiope could have anyone she wanted in their army. She had nothing to do with it, only picking sexual partners nothing more. Here she broke Menalippe's heart once again. Menalippe remained stoic as was her want. She knew that if she was to get what she truly wanted and needed she must wait, wait no matter how long it took. Antiope became known as someone who was very hard. Hard on her soldiers, whom she expected to be as strong as she was, and hard on herself. 

^^^^^

When their fighting reached the base of the Peloponnesian peninsula, the Amazons found themselves with nowhere to go. There was no more fighting left on the Greek homeland. Their journey of revenge was over. They could keep fighting the same remaining people over and over or they could leave. Fighting and attacking the same broken people was not something they liked. The senate met and discussed the problem for nearly a week. After much consideration it was decided that they should leave and move on to other, richer lands and find and create a homeland. The Amazons found shipbuilders and purchased or had built hundreds of ships to take them somewhere else. 

When done, they sailed back to the Thermodon, their birthplace, and created a city Themyscira, on an island next to the Rhodope plain, their pride and joy. Menalippe enjoyed watching Antiope attempt to work with the builders of the city or try to at least. She couldn't do a damn thing. She built a wall in the new orchard… it fell down. It was finally decided that she wouldn't build anything. She tried cooking and baking and spinning and farming and shepherding and bee keeping and pottery and failed miserably at it all. She couldn't work at the forge or basketry or anything that could help create the city. So, she remained a soldier. She had no match there. At least she still had the army which protected the city and surrounding farmlands and the forest beyond that all the way to the mountains themselves.

It was during this time that Antiope decided she needed a second in command, a lochagos, in case she was ever injured or killed. The contest took place over two days and was absolutely brutal. Horrible cuts, arrow wounds, through-and-through spear wounds, broken bones, concussions, and bruises galore adorned the contestants. Menalippe won. She became the new lochagos. This meant that she was closer to Antiope than everyone except the Queen. Menalippe would accept that as it was the best she could get at the moment. But then Diana was born and Menalippe fell to third place. That was alright, it was a baby after all.

Over the next year or so something happened. Antiope seemed to notice Menalippe. She didn't do anything but Menalippe noticed the look in her eyes; a look of "wanting" or "needing". It made her heart flutter just watching it. But when would Antiope DO something about it?

And then something happened. Antiope set up meetings with herself and the ypolochagoi to discuss training issues. It was a bit odd that she wanted to talk to each of them individually but the others spoke of actual real conversations regarding the issues they faced. Menalippe was dubious. Real conversations, Hmm? Then it was her turn and Antiope changed their meeting to the evening at a local caupona or tavern. Menalippe's heart soared! The first meeting was just that, a meeting. But it was decided that they would get together again to discuss whether the training changes worked in a week. Right?

The wait for this second meeting, though in truth only a week, lasted longer than anything Menalippe had ever waited for before. She was so worried that Antiope would cancel or change her plans. Of course, she had Seen Antiope at this meeting but she didn't believe it. Her Sight played tricks on her sometimes after all. "Oh Hermes, please make sure this meeting happened!" she thought over and over again.

The second meeting finally did happen. The actual "meeting" part lasted a very short time, but, then, a real conversation happened. They discussed wants, needs, silly stories, war stories… anything at all really. They were chased out of the caupona at closing time and continued their discussion outside. And then it happened, Antiope asked to walk her home. Menalippe's heart soared! The first few minutes they just walked quietly but then Antiope stopped, turned to her, and, after a long deep breath, told her that she liked her and wanted to spend more time with her. 

Menalippe had Seen this moment a hundred times but the actual feelings of joy, happiness, excitement, and downright glee that overcame her at that moment was indescribable. She knew her smile was so large that it would pop off her face. She answered Antiope's question with a cheeky statement about wanting it too, or at least she thought she did. For all she knew she drooled. All she knew was that Antiope smiled and leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss then took her hand as they continued to walk. By Aphrodite's clit she wanted more but walking hand-in-hand calmed her and she smiled the whole way home. Once there Antiope kissed her again. Gods, it was more heated and her breath caught in her throat. Now, it was going too fast! She slowly pushed Antiope away and kissed her on the nose. On the nose, where the Tartarus did that come from? And promised more later. Menalippe smiled broadly as she turned and walked into her house closing the door.

Once inside she turned her back, leaned against the door and slid down to the floor. By all the Gods, the time was here, it was really happening!

The next few weeks were spent eating dinner at each other's houses, well, palace for Antiope, and getting to really know each other. The evenings always ended with intense make-out sessions and that always stopped with that silly nose kiss. It became a sign of deep love for Menalippe, a simple nose kiss, but pure love. Funny how that worked. Eventually they consummated their relationship and Menalippe's heart soared. This was what she had waited for for so very long.

They moved in together. She lived at the palace for years. During this time, they learned to work together as a true unit during practice and training sessions. No longer did Antiope need to yell to get anything to happen; now Menalippe did that. She also became the liaison between the soldiers and their hero. Antiope never seemed to get angry with her soldiers, Menalippe did. This kept Antiope as a type of radius point, all happened around her and all looked to her for guidance. 

Menalippe watched as her lover ascended to this high peak among the soldiers. She heard the jokes about how their sex life must be to the book whenever they did have it. She also heard that they didn't have it because she wasn't perfect like her love. Ha! The jokes were funny but oh so untrue. They had sex as often as they could. Once for an entire day and night. And the things they got into. Well, suffice it to say, most wouldn't understand it at all. 

Then the dreams started.

Antiope lying dead on the sand of the beach. She was a soldier. She knew death. This dream or vision or whatever showed death, her love's death. She heard herself screaming "No!" in the dream. Then she started to dream the feelings she would have. It was traumatizing. She woke up crying and shaking more often than not. She did her best to keep this from Antiope. She was able to do so for years but then Antiope caught her weeping as she woke and she finally had to tell her. They held each other close then, Antiope trying to be brave for her. Eventually she discovered an important adage that ruled her life; 'You're allowed to scream, you're allowed to cry, but do not give up.' She convinced Antiope that they needed to live in their own house and they started to look for one; instead having one built.

They eventually moved into their own house. It was a beautiful two-story building with three bedchambers upstairs and four large rooms downstairs. It had a beautiful garden out back and flower gardens galore all about. Wonderful trellises covered the side of the house facing the garden and flowering vines had rapidly grown on them. It was all perfect. Soon everyone got used to watching Menalippe tend the garden and ordering her faithful wife to get proper soil and mulch for the plants and not to water the flowers that way and all. It was kind of cute watching Antiope do everything she said with a "Yes my love" on her lips. And, best of all, being on their own helped the dreams to lesson in their strength and occurrence. 

Menalippe actually squealed when Antiope asked Menalippe to marry her in the baths after training one day. It was such a wonderful feeling to be loved this much. The wedding was also wonderful. The entire population of the island seemed to be there. There was much dancing and feasting and revelry; it was a fantastic affair. Their evening culminated, after they were driven to their house in a gilt chariot, with tender lovemaking. They spent the week following alone in their home unless they wished to go out in public, which they did, to the marketplace. 

Soon, too soon in fact, they were back to their normal life.

The dreams began to get worse. She could smell them; she could smell the blood and shit and something else, it was a sharp bitter smell that she didn't recognize at all. Antiope held her close as she cried, trying her best to calm her wife. They rarely went a week without one of these terrible nights. They learned to sleep whenever they could. Too often they didn't sleep at all. 

They mostly had wonderful times though. Daily life watching her niece grow, the soldiers excel at their craft, the people of the island live their lives was wonderful. Being home in the evening watching her wife sit, well recline really, on their couch with one of their cats curled up with her, reading. Gardening, riding, living. Life was breathtaking except for that dream. It grew more and more lifelike. Menalippe learned to keep the actual physical pain from her wife. Let her have her peace now, let her relax and feel safe. 

They both watched Diana's skill grow and, eventually, she was able to beat nearly everyone except for her aunt. But then that changed. She disarmed Antiope and seemed to have won but then looked to her mother for approval. Antiope picked up her sword and attacked her niece again yelling that battle wasn't fair when it happened. Diana crossed her arms in front of her as a shield and Boosh! Her god's strength came alive for the very first time. She ran from the practice fields. Some small time later one of the queen's guards, Venelia in fact, noticed that boat loads of men were coming ashore. The Queen, with the remainder of her guards, raced to the edge of the cliff in time to see Diana and a, what? A man? On the beach together. She yelled at her daughter to get away from this man but then noticed how close these small boats were to the shore. Her archers came running and jumped from the cliffs shooting first an anchor shot to keep them from falling onto the ground and then dozens of arrows at the boatmen. Her soldiers started to repel down the cliffs to fight the men and Antiope and her most elite came racing down the trail, on horseback, to the actual gate on the beach ready to fight. 

The men shot with guns that created that smell, that sharp better smell, that haunted her dreams. She watched dozens of her sisters fall to these guns. There were explosions that sent her sisters and their horses into the air with great and deadly puffs of wind. She herself lost her mount to one such sudden wind and was trapped on the beach behind her shield as men shot at her. Antiope saw her predicament and came running to help, screaming "Shield!" as she ran closer. Menalippe turned, planted herself and flung her wife up into the air with her shield. It was glorious. They had practiced this move for years but this was the first time she had used it in actual combat. Her wife flew like a fury shooting the men with her bow when she was at her peak of ascent. She then disappeared behind the rocks these men were behind. 

She heard her wife scream "NO!" and then a single shot followed quickly by another. Then she heard her niece cry "Antiope, no!" She knew something had happened and came racing from around the rocks towards her wife and niece and sister-in-law. It hit her suddenly. This was the dream. That evil horrible dream. The smell. By all the gods, the smell was exactly as she had dreamt it.

"NO!!" Menalippe screamed as she ran towards the figure lying still on the beach. But Antiope was already dead by the time she got to her. She lifted her head and howled to the gods! Why hadn't they helped her? Why? But to no avail. It was over. Menalippe's heart broke. She broke. Life would never be the same again.

There Is no more to say now thou art still,  
There is no more to do now thou art dead,  
There is no more to know now thy clear mind  
Is back returned unto the gods who gave it.

Now thou art gone the use of life is past,  
The meaning and the glory and the pride,  
There is no joyous friend to share the day,  
And on the threshold no awaited shadow.  
~Sappho

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have only two more chapters of this story planned. If you think of something that should be in here please let me know. I'd love to include it.


	5. Diana's Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's story

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

 

Chapter 5  
Diana's Story

Death is not easy. It brings up thoughts that are better left alone. But, it also brings back memories, sweet, bitter, sad, and joyous memories. Memories that may have been forgotten but now are in the forefront of your brain. You do not want to forget these memories again. So, you cherish them, even the horrible ones, and you try to remember them for the rest of your life. 

Sitting next to Antiope's body on the beach, sobbing and holding her hand, listening to Menalippe keen, and Diana begging Antiope to come back, Hippolyta remembers… everything

 

Diana's first memory of her aunt was when she was very small. She remembered Antiope introducing her to her kitten. Diana often remembered how soft that kitten's fur was and how she purred and purred and purred. This memory was a spot of tenderness in her life. Antiope taking her there was just Antiope, a caring and loving woman who Diana had wrapped around her little finger. Diana always knew that Antiope had her back. She could ask for anything in the known world and Antiope would get it for her, oftimes even when her mother disapproved. 

^^^^^

"You want to take my five-year-old daughter out with you for a week in the wild?" Hippolyta said to Antiope incredulously. "Seriously?" 

"Yes," Antiope answered. "I want to show her the joys of nature and the beauty of her homeland."

"I don't believe you Antiope. Why do you want to really take her?"

"I told you Hippolyta. I want to teach her to fish, to trap, to hunt, basically how to survive and enjoy her life on this island."

Hippolyta sighed. "Antiope, she's only five…"

"We'll take good care of her Hippolyta," Menalippe interjected. "I won't let Antiope do anything to her."

Hippolyta looked from Menalippe to Antiope, obviously thinking.

Antiope broke into her thoughts, "I'd obviously ask you and Phillipus to come but I don't think you could get away for that long. But can you come for a few days?"

Hippolyta looked at them both with a slight frown. "You'd like me to go with you?"

"Yes," both Menalippe and Antiope answered as one. Antiope then continued, "We could show her the beauty of the world, sister, together."

Two weeks later, the group of them, Hippolyta, Phillipus, Antiope, Menalippe, Diana, Venelia and Aella, set out on the first adventure of young Diana's lifetime.

First, Antiope showed Diana how to ride her pony faster than she had done before. They started to run circles around the others. Diana also tried to imitate Antiope's war cry. There they were riding and yelling. Admittedly Diana sounded ridiculous but the others, especially her mothers, tried to appear awed and scared by the fierceness Diana was showing. It lasted significantly less than an hour before she was too tired. Once that happened Hippolyta took Diana up on her horse with her and led the pony while Diana took a small nap. 

Diana awoke as Hippolyta dismounted her horse at their first camp. Venelia and Aella were setting up three tents, two large-ish, one small. Antiope got Diana to help her gather wood for the fire. It was early afternoon so they had lots of time and many trips to make. Once enough wood was gathered she showed Diana how to make a fire and light it. The look on Diana's face was precious as she got her first spark and finally lit the fire.

Then Antiope took Diana fishing. They cut two poles and Antiope strung the poles and put bait (worms) on the hooks and they went and sat by the local creek. It wasn't long before they had ten small fish. Antiope then showed Diana how to clean them and they headed back to camp. Diana ran into camp with their small catch holding them up proudly to her mother who showed her awe and amazement at the catch.

Antiope noticed that someone had built up the tiny fire she and Diana had made. She looked over at her wife and smiled at her wife's nod of agreement. She watched Phillipus and Aella get out cooking pans and started cooking up the little fishes. Venelia came in from gathering with roots and fresh fruit so the meal would be complete.

Later, after putting Diana to bed, the others sat around the fire chatting for some time before they went to bed also.

^^^^^

When Diana was eight Antiope took her hunting. They spent three days in the woods and came back with a beautiful buck, a brace of rabbits, and 4 large water birds. Later it was told that Diana shot them all, which just wasn't true, but Antiope never told anyone the truth. As far as she was concerned Diana needed the island to know that she could do it. 

^^^^^

When Diana was ten Antiope started taking her around the island and teaching her about all the different trades on the island. She made sure that Diana learned as much as she could about each trade also. This and her secret fighting training took the life out of the girl at first but she soon began to relish it all. She learned about tanning first. Then weaving. Then the art of copying old scrolls so as to retain the knowledge therein. She learned about blacksmithing and forging new weapons and armor (she truly enjoyed that), she learned about growing grapes and the entire process of making wine. Funny, it took nearly a month for the purple on her feet from smashing grapes to disappear. Pottery was fun even if she never created anything remotely nice. Both her mothers and her aunts liked what she created, or at least said that they did, and displayed the pieces proudly. She enjoyed creating the dyes used on thread and on materials. It was fascinating.

Diana especially enjoyed her time learning how to break and train horses. She actually broke and trained her new horse. They had an instant connection. The horse was magnificent. A beautiful dun with a stunning dark brown dorsal stripe and the same color points on her legs and mane. Absolutely gorgeous. Diana named her 'baklava', her favorite sweet. It fit. Baklava would follow Diana around looking for carrots and apples.

Diana also truly enjoyed her time working with the carpenters. Taking raw wood and creating something absolutely beautiful made her heart soar. She loved turning legs on a lathe and creating four elegant legs for a table. Then there was her time spent with the farmers. She was good with growing things thanks to Menalippe and it showed in her farming techniques.

She learned so much over the years because Antiope pushed her towards it all. Antiope used to say, often in fact, that you couldn't choose a life's profession if you didn't know what you were looking for. 

Meanwhile she had school and her secret military training. She certainly slept well!

^^^^^

Antiope was everywhere in Diana's life. She was teacher, mentor, and friend. Just as she was needed. 

^^^^^

Once Diana started training with others, after her mother finally agreed to it, she found that Antiope was thought never to smile or laugh or even have sex, Diana always laughed at that. Her aunt was always smiling and she certainly smiled most of the time. She certainly had sex too. She just was stoic while working with many people. It's like she only smiled around those she considered friends. But why didn't the others remember her joyous smile on her wedding day, everyone was there, right? Did they all just forget?

For example, her sneaky smile while planning something to do to her wife or the way she always smiled when riding her horse Aristomache, a large, strong, black as Tartarus mare. Her name meant "She who is best in the battle." Antiope generally called her 'Aris.' She was exquisite. Antiope fed her carrots and other treats from her own mouth and spent hours with her when she was pregnant, currying and rubbing and just plain fussing over her. And when the little colt was born Antiope brought absolutely everyone over to see and inspect her "little man." Of course, she spent hours with her anyway; Aris was kind of an obsession with Antiope.

Antiope often brought Diana in as a conspirator on many of her jokes. Like the time she snuck Diana into her bad and covered her up waiting for Menalippe to get into bed. Menalippe had stripped and crawled into the bed with her thought to be wife and put her arms around her and started to kiss her neck. Something was wrong though. She stopped and looked closely. Clothes? Dark hair? Oh no no no no no, this just wasn't right. So, she had rolled the other person in her bed over and finally saw that it was her niece and kicked Diana out yelling "Antiope!"

Face it, Antiope was a completely different person in her home or the palace and it was this completely different person that Diana knew.

^^^^^

Once Diana was formally in training a lot happened. She was moved to the barracks. She ended up with a roommate and a tent-mate all at once. Her name was Sostrate and she and Diana did become fast friends but that first month… Oh boy, it certainly wasn't good at all. Diana cried herself to sleep her first night in the barracks. Lights out was so early and she didn't get dinner (she was unaware of the fact that she had to go and get it). She'd never slept in a room with anyone except her mothers in it. Her learning curve was difficult, she wasn't even allowed to visit her home until her weekly day off after she had finished her work, but she eventually overcame the feelings of abandonment.

And Antiope never smiled at her anymore. Neither did Menalippe or Phillipus. Not even her own mother smiled at her except for her weekly day off. Her bed was not the soft bed she was used to either. Sigh. This all sucked. Sostrate asked her daily, in what she took as a mocking voice even though it wasn't, whether or not she was "ready to go home to her cushy life yet." This always made Diana mad and so, she would push on.

What Diana didn't know was that Antiope was watching her at all times. She got a report from Sostrate once a day and she passed on the information to Hippolyta and Phillipus. Menalippe watched Diana also and gave her reports to the two mothers and aunt.

Years passed. Diana and Sostrate became and were inseparable. They ate together, camped together, did other things together… but not that.

^^^^^

Diana was just eighteen as the world ages in Themyscira. In Patriarch's World significantly more than 2500 years have passed since her birth and, truth be told, hundreds of Themysciran years had passed too. Time was a weird thing. It never seemed to make sense. Early years lasted forever, but later years went by so very fast. How was one supposed to make sense of it all?

Diana wandered the marketplace looking for something to do. It was the weekly day off for the warriors and most were either sleeping, playing, or, well, probably having sex at the moment. For the hundredth time that day she wished she could have relations with someone. Well, someone other than herself. But, maybe, someday, right? She wandered towards Antiope and Menalippe's house. She always felt at home there so she went as often as she could. She went, when she just didn't feel right, for a touch of humanity. They always treated her not just as family, but as a friend. This meant a lot to the young princess. She sometimes felt that friendship was very low in most people's thoughts of her. Funny that, she wasn't sure if that was true but it certainly made her feel better because she didn't have a lot of friends. It's not that she was standoffish, being habitually gregarious, but because she was the freaking princess and, mostly, they had all known her since she was a babe at Hippolyta's breast.

She knocked loudly on her aunts' door and yelled, "If you're doing the thing in someplace other than your bed with the door closed, you better stop cause I'm coming in!" She heard something crash to the ground and laughed. "Got them!" she thought as she opened the door. 

Inside she found Menalippe picking up pottery shards from the floor. "Quiet," she whispered, "Antiope's sleeping. She finally fell asleep about an hour ago." Diana bent down to help Menalippe clean up the mess. Afterwards she looked up quizzically. 

"You startled me," Menalippe said then smiled. "Come on, let's sit outside." Menalippe got together a platter with nuts, fruits, bread, and cheese then grabbed a pitcher of spring water and two large mugs. The two then walked out to the yard out back and sat down at a small table. The yard was exquisite. Menalippe took good care of it and her love of flowers and bright plants was very evident on this spring morning. Roses bloomed as did irises, violets, daisies, orchids, and so many more flowers in a riot of color. Beautiful flowering vines covered the trellis and worked their way up the side of the house itself in a riot of purples, magentas, blues, reds, and yellows.

"Like all of us," Menalippe said once they were seated, "your aunt sometimes suffers from horrible nightmares. Last night was one of those nights." She smiled at Diana then continued "Now what can I do for you today?"

"Nightmares?" she asked. 

"Yes, nightmares," Menalippe replied. "I won't go into her nightmares specifically, but let's just say she… remembered… her slavery. Her first love. Her death. It is never pretty but we all manage. I remember my time before too. I remember waiting by the Acheron without my toll. I remember… well, that's enough of that. You don't need to know the demons that live in my mind now, do you?" 

Diana shook her head no. 

"Good," Menalippe said. "So, is this just a social visit?" Menalippe graced her with her extraordinary smile.

"I suppose," Diana answered. "But actually, no… Mena, I feel like I'm going crazy. I want, maybe I need… by Tartarus I don't know what I need."

Menalippe took a sip of her water. "I see that you probably want Antiope Diana."

"Maybe I do. But I think I need you both."

Menalippe smiled again. "Can you give us a couple of hours so that I can let her sleep just a bit longer?"

"Of course."

"Good. Let's sit here and enjoy the day then. You can tell me about your training, your dog, your horse, your cat, your everything. I'll tell you about my garden. Deal.

Four hours later, after transplanting and tilling and trimming the garden, Menalippe went back into the house to wake up her wife. A short time later the two walked out to the garden to sit and chat with Diana. Antiope looked tired and beat down but, after a little time just chatting, she looked better, stronger, happier even. It was amazing how she changed as she came into her strength. Wonderful to see.

Finally, after passing the time for a bit, Diana told the two her problems. How she felt alone, with few friends, and no chance at that ever changing. She wanted real friends, not those who knew her as a baby or wanted to be her friend because of her mother, her family, her status. She told them how she wanted a physical relationship with someone but knew that would never happen and how she felt trapped here.

Antiope laughed out loud. "Diana," she said, "why can't you have a physical relationship with someone? And what do you mean by trapped?"

Diana looked at her aunt thoughtfully. "Tell me how I can ever have that since all here have known me since the day I was born?

"And you have no relationships with anyone without the royal bent being passed on to you. You have no friends, No compatriots?"

What do you mean Antiope?" she questioned. This conversation is making absolutely no sense to Diana.

"I can name one immediately who likes you for you."

"And who's that?" Diana quips back.

"Sostrate," Antiope and Menalippe say together. 

^^^^^

Diana takes a few weeks to mull over her aunts' answer. One evening, after dinner, she and Sostrate are walking back to the barracks when they decide to walk to and take in the ocean on the beach. Once there they gathered driftwood and brush and built a fire. They sat down in front of it so they could watch the ocean and the stars. After nearly an hour of just talking Sostrate moved in closer to Diana and tentatively put her arm around her. Now she waited. After a few minutes Sostrate took Diana's hand into her own and brought it to her lips where she kissed it lightly.

Diana was lost. What should she do now? She absolutely loved the feeling. What now?

Sostrate seemed to understand how Diana felt and, after a few minutes, she put her arm around Diana and drew her in. She held her close for a few minutes and then drew her in for a kiss. It was tentative for a moment but then Diana opened her mouth for Sostrate and the timidity went away. They spent hours kissing under the moonlight. They eventually made their way home to their shared room and crawled into Sostrate's bed where they slept for hours curled up in each other's arms.

^^^^^

The two spent most of the next day in bed learning each other's bodies and discovering their own. It was a glorious day. Come evening, however, Diana realized that she would be expected at the palace for dinner with her mother. Though feeling trepidation, she asked Sostrate to come with her. And to her delight she agreed. 

They walked to the palace hand-in-hand, chatting about those things that new lovers chat about. Their favorite colors, their favorite songs, their favorite position. All the normal things. As they got to the palace Diana thought she should tell Sostrate about her family but decided against it. She'd have to experience the weirdness for herself.

"Oh goody," she thought, "there's my aunt now," as Antiope walked up to them.

Antiope grabbed her niece and kissed her on the forehead. "Hello Diana," she said with a huge grin on her face. "Is seeing the two of you here together what I think it is?"

"Yes," Diana grumbled.

"Ooh good. I see how thrilled you are at this little question." Antiope laughed. Turning to Sostrate, "Be prepared, her mother's will ask more questions than even you can imagine." Seeing the bemused but alarmed look on her face, Antiope said "Don't worry. I'll help you. But remember, you mustn't tell anyone or I'll give you 'round the island' runs for the rest of your life." She flashed another big grin. 

The three walked down the corridors to the private family area and into the triklinion where a long table had been set. There was light food on the table and the meat was shish-kebab. Everyone was laughing or joking and just looked like they were having fun. Antiope said "Look who I found wandering the palace. She's obviously forgotten the way as she was walking all over the place. And look, she's finally brought a friend."

Everyone turned to face Diana. Then Menalippe stood and started to applaud. Hippolyta and Phillipus followed quickly. Antoipe said, "Yes, Diana has a friend! And her name is Sostrate. She's one of my soldiers."

"Welcome Sostrate," Hippolyta said. "Come, sit. We are very informal here despite what many believe."

Meanwhile Antiope went to her wife and gave her a passionate kiss. Pulling apart she smiled broadly and whispered something to her. Menalippe laughed and quickly kissed Antiope's nose.

Sostrate was shocked. She tried desperately NOT to show it. Was this really her strategos? Was that really the queen? She watched Antiope continue to make out with a giggling Menalippe. This was so very unlike her personal vision of these people. She looked over at Diana, incredulously.

"Welcome to my little life in Tartarus," Diana quipped. Sostrate flinched.

Hippolyta looked at Diana. "Tartarus? Really Diana? Antiope just got back today from a three-week deployment. You know how much her and Menalippe love each other. I know you should have been here hours ago but, by the fact that you've finally brought a friend home and the scent of your body that you were doing the same thing just a short time ago. You haven't even said hello to your other mother yet and you know how I feel about my Consort." Hippolyta sighed. "Diana, this is your family, they are not the idealizations of your thoughts. Now, please sit and eat?"

Diana looked chagrinned. She took Sostrate's hand and led her to the table to sit and eat. A moment later Hippolyta looked towards her sister with a quizzical look on her face.

"I think we'll head home sister," Antiope said. "We've been here long enough."

"You've been here less than an hour," Hippolyta answered.

"Long enough," Antiope said. "Good night."

Hippolyta looked at her sister and Menalippe leave then at Phillipus, quizzically.

Phillipus smiled at Hippolyta. "She didn't feel welcome," Phillipus said. "I'll go talk with her tomorrow."

^^^^^

"Diana, again!" Antiope yelled, "You're stronger than this!" 

Diana sighed. She hated spear practice.

"Menalippe! Come here and show Diana how to do this form again. Make sure she knows it well. I'll be back after lunch to test her once again"

Diana sighed.

^^^^^

It was hard to be trained by Antiope. She expected so much from Diana. Certainly, more than anyone else. "Again, again, again, AGAIN!" ran through her head even when Antiope wasn't saying the expected word for everything. It was frustrating to say the least. She knew these forms better than anyone else in the regiment. Oftimes better than her teachers, yet she always heard 'Again" from her aunt. Nothing pleased her. Like today, she went through all the forms with many soldiers from archery to even using her shield like a discus. Then she did the impossible, she disarmed Antiope. Ecstatic, she looked up and towards her mother for approval when Antiope picked up her blade and started in on Diana pushing her back further and further until she crossed her wrists in front of her face and BOOSH! Antiope went flying backwards at least 50 feet and fell, banging her head on the ground. Menalippe ran towards Antiope telling her not to move she was bleeding.

Diana stared at her arms. "What happened?" she thought then she looked at Antiope. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Antiope yelled her name. "Diana!"

But all Diana did was say, once again, but much louder "I'm sorry." She then turned and ran from the field.

^^^^^

Saving the man was easy except for breaking him from his machine. Once ashore, when he woke and said "Wow" it certainly made Diana's heart soar. The feeling was unlike anything she had felt before. But she had no time to think of it as the horrible battle on the beach happened. She saw her first death there. She watched Orana, gentle and sweet Orana, die while hanging on a line shooting arrows at the Germans. She watched more of her sisters fall too, some screaming and some not. At least those screaming were still alive. She watched, enthralled, as Antiope and Menalippe and all the others rode onto the field like avenging Erinyes. She picked up a bow and shot all the arrows she could find and then found a sword. She watched her mother race down on the other side of the beach. She had never seen the warrior her mother was until then. And then she fought and killed at least eight German combatants at the same time. Diana was lost in watching her mother, completely mesmerized. She didn't see Antiope fly. She didn't see her come running towards her. She did hear though. She heard her aunt scream 'NO!" and the sound of a gun. She whipped around and already found Antiope on the ground, bleeding. 

"Antiope!" Diana cried. She ran to her, knelt and cradled her chest and head, holding her close. The sounds of battle, that horrible reverberating sound, slipped away. She didn't see all the bodies of her sisters, their horses, none of it. All she saw was her mentor, her teacher, her loving aunt, her friend.

"No! Please no!" Diana begged.

Antiope desperately struggled to speak. There was blood everywhere, on her armor, her arms, her hands, leaking from her throat and staining her pale lips. The life was leaving her eyes. "Diana… the time has come… you… you must…" Antiope whispered.

"What?" Diana replied. She was fighting back the tears. There was so much blood. She could see in her eyes that her beloved aunt was in agony.

Antiope whispered, "Godkiller… Diana, go… Godkiller… Go… Go… ""

"Go where? Antiope!" 

But there was nothing there… Antiope was gone. Her mother arrived at that moment and called Antiope's name. And then Menalippe came running from around some rocks, screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" as she raced to Antiope's side. She took her wife from her niece's arms and cradled her close and just screamed.


	6. My Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Antiope’s story
> 
> Well, from her point of view at least.

Chapter 6  
My Story

Death is not easy. It brings up thoughts that are better left alone. But, it also brings back memories, sweet, bitter, sad, and joyous memories. Memories that may have been forgotten but now are in the forefront of your brain. You do not want to forget these memories again. So, you cherish them, even the horrible ones, and you try to remember them for the rest of your life. 

Sitting next to Antiope's body on the beach, sobbing and holding her hand, listening to Menalippe keen, and Diana begging Antiope to come back, Hippolyta remembers… everything

 

I was born in Kolkhis in the little town of Phasi on the Phasis river on the far eastern shore of the Black Sea. I was the youngest of nine children, all boys except for my sister Hippolyta and me. There was six years and five children between me and Hippolyta. My father had a dearth of boys. My mother died giving birth to me so I was raised by my sister. Being the last child, the baby, might seem like a good thing, but most of my family, my father included, blamed me for killing my mother. But I was pure gold to my sister. She raised me as her own. I have no idea how she fed me, she was only six when I was born. But, once I started on anything other than mother's milk Hippolyta took care of my feedings. My father was a fisherman, as where most of my brothers. One was a goldsmith and another was a farmer and animal breeder named Cleomedes. More on him later.

I grew as any child does. I followed my sister constantly. Drooling all the time at first but then asking that age-old question 'why?' over and over again. She taught me everything that she knew and made a point to always learn new things so that she could tell me. She told wonderful stories of heroes, wars, and, most importantly, the great gods and goddesses. She taught me to spin, mend nets, gut fish, weave, and cook. I was a happy child, always laughing and making jests with my sister and brothers. I got in more trouble than most and felt my father's lash quite a bit. I'd cry and was comforted by Hippolyta but start on the same behavior a few days after. 

I loved fresh fruit, especially figs, but apples, oranges, lemons, limes, cherries, grapes, persimmons, pomegranates, you name it, I truly loved them all. I enjoyed certain fish also but I abhorred eels. My father made me eat them though, or not actually. I seem to remember the worst beatings came from not eating them. I admit it, I followed Hippolyta around like a little puppy. All my joy came from her. I was most afraid of her anger. It was a very delicate thing. You see, she was afraid of our father but I was only afraid of her especially if I disappointed her.

I learned to cook and clean from Hippolyta also. We soon became a pretty good team.

Years passed. Hippolyta was given to a fellow fisherman in marriage. I had hated him the moment I met him but it certainly wasn't my place to say anything so I didn't. I was twelve now so I knew enough to NOT say anything. The gamos was nice and, after the feast Hippolyta and her husband walked away to her new life. She with the promise that we would see each other again soon. I never saw her again.

Three weeks following her husband crawled back onto our beach. He spoke of robbers attacking them and taking everything and throwing Hippolyta off a cliff to her death in the ocean below. I didn't hear anything more…I was screaming my loss. 

They never found Hippolyta's body. All we could do was pray to the gods begging our forgiveness and begging that she be treated well. I gave my entire savings (about 3 oboli) to a shrine to pay for her passage to the underworld. I prayed it would be enough.

I became chief cook, spinner, weaver, net-mender, fish gutter, all for my family, whom I didn't particularly like. Now here is where my brother Cleomedes came into play. He took pity on me. He saw that I was bright, very bright and that I wanted to learn. He convinced our father to let him take me. Enough of my brothers were married that there was plenty of wives to do the work around the house. I practically begged my father but stopped before I actually began. It was my father after all. Cleomedes did the arranging and I followed him to my new life on his farm. He taught me everything about proper farming, rotating crops, leaving land fallow. He taught me about animal breeding; what to look for and what to cull from the stock. With Cleomedes care I learned so much more than I ever thought I could learn.

I was nearly sixteen. Dark honey blond haired, blue eyed, lithe, always smiling. Cleomedes noted that I looked exactly like our mother, whom I had never met. He decided that with my knowledge I should have the best husband. His wife helped him in his search and they decided that a marriage with a great farmer who lived some twenty leagues away from them was ideal. He was prosperous, having nearly forty hectares of farmland with a huge olive grove, and land for barley. He made so much that he had ten tenant farmers and even sold barley and olive oil at market to make money for slaves and luxury goods. His name was Simonides and this was a perfect match!

It was early Gamelion (January) when the wedding took place. The proaulia was spent quietly with my sister-in-law who acted as my mother, all of my other sisters'-in-law, my father's new wife, and my friends quietly giving me advice and making lewd jokes. I offered all of my childhood's toys to Artemis and sweet triangular honey cakes dedicated to Aphrodite. On the end of the day of this celebration a lock of my hair was cut and dedicated to both goddesses. Finally, the feast of my proaulia was held.

The following day was my gamos, my actual wedding. I cut my hair neck length signifying my virginity. I was taken and bathed in a fresh cold spring near to my house where I was given a veil then made my way to the temple where I met my husband and made suitable offerings to Hera. Following this was the typical wedding feast. Men ate first. All women were expected to sit and wait for the men to finish before they were allowed to eat. Once the women started to eat they could control the conversation but I remained silent. I was terrified. We were taken by chariot to the house my new husband had leased for the fortnight he was here and, once inside the anakalupteria was held, where my veil was removed. This signified my marriage. Then everyone left the house and the doors and shutters were all shut. Great singing and banging on the doors and shutters was done from the outside. Scaring away spirits bent on evil. But the evil wasn't spirits.

My husband browbeat me first, calling me a whore, a pig, a trifle of farm filth that he should pick off his boots. He hit me, hard, in the stomach, so I threw up what little I had managed to eat that day. He tore off my filth covered chiton and himation and rubbed it in my face, once again vilifying me and telling me how he deserved so much better but, as this was a business deal he had to take me. He then threw me on the bed and raped me while I cried and begged for forgiveness. When he was done he threw me onto the floor while he curled up on the bed to sleep. I was left to find what was left of my clothes and sleep in them on the floor.

The next morning, I was told to wash with cold water and dress suitably to meet with my family. Simonides took the blood-stained sheet and hung it outside the window. I was informed that if I didn't smile I would be treated 'roughly' that night. We went to the epaulia and, after this feast, we took his cart and headed home. I was miserable. That night he raped me again and again. This became nearly a nightly affair until I obviously became pregnant. Once we arrived at his home, our home now, I presumed, I found out where his hate came from. As we arrived a young fair youth, about my age, came running from the house and ran into my husband's arms. This eromenos was greeted lovingly by my husband, the erastes. This pederastic relationship was very common but usually was left behind when a man wed. The eromenos was left and the bride taken up. This certainly was not true in my case. Procleus, the eromenos to my husband, hated women and his views became the mainstay of my relationship with Simonides.

After nine months of marriage the one beautiful thing about it happened. After three days of labor with two days of hard labor, I gave birth to my son Hippolytus. I named him for my sister, now dead nearly five years. I was still beaten often. I had black eyes most of the time. Broken bones, mostly arms and fingers and often ribs. Over the next few years I had three children beaten from me. Three beautiful children two boys and one beautifully perfect girl. I made sure they were buried with an obolus for passage by Charon. 

I found myself often called to help as an assistant midwife over the years. There was always talk of me becoming an actual midwife and going to the polis for training but nothing ever came of it. Maybe it was the numerous broken bones and battered flesh. They probably wanted to be sure that I would be available at any time and with my husband that was a bit, what? Problematic? 

When Hippolytus was five I found my husband fondling him. I went berserk. I yelled. I screamed. I hit him. I received a broken arm, broken nose, and two black eyes for my trouble and the fondling continued. I finally went to Procleus and begged for his help. For the first and only time he did as I asked, yelling and crying and pouting and withholding his loving touch. It was enough. Hippolytus was left alone, and, wonderfully so, the two took that years produce to market and never returned!

The planting happened a week late that year but it got put into the soil and, thank Kore, the barley grew strong and tall. All of the tenant farmers and their families, myself included, reaped the barley then separated chaff on the halos. The haloa that year was wonderful. For once I had no broken bones or horrible bruises. I danced with whoever asked. It was joyous, fun, and exhilarating. I had a bumper crop of olives too and had three of the tenant farmers man the press while the others collected them all. I took the extra barley and olive oil to market and made more money than I had ever seen before. It was glorious. For the first time since my sister's death I was happy, truly happy.

I took a lover. A woman, a widow of one of my tenant farmers to be exact, one Agathe. Her name, meaning good, was just the simplest part of her that helped heal me. We were inseparable and caused amazing things to happen together. She had 4 children, two boys and two girls. All five of our children played together and got along well together. During the next few years two of her children married and I threw elaborate gamos' parties and celebrations for them. All was right with the world. 

The world turned and suddenly, the Gods turned their backs on us. It rained so much that the barley crop rotted in the fields. The olive crop was poor, and, worst of all, fever struck. In an extremely short amount of time two of Agathe's children died. Then she took ill. I nursed her but could only weep as she passed to the other side. I buried her with all the rites and honors. My heart was broken and all that kept me going was my son, my Hippolytus.

However, the Gods still weren't finished with me. Raiders came, Athenians I think, and grabbed me and my son one horrible evening. There were three of them. They beat me and raped me repeatedly in front of Hippolytus. After hours of their abuse I watched them spear my son through the neck and while I screamed for him they speared me in the chest. I prayed to Ares for retribution, and Athena for the strength to kill them all. One hit me in the head and there was a bright light and I knew no more.

I awoke on the shore of the Acheron looking into Charon's eyes as he shook his head no. I could not get into the afterlife because I had no toll, no obolus, to pay.

Because I had no toll I was damned to sit by the river while praying that someone would come upon my body and bury me with an obolus. It never happened. After one hundred years I started to fade away as my bones turned to dust. I faded until I was gone and I knew no more.

My head broke the surface of the water and I sucked in a great breath of air. Where was I? I struggled towards the shore and I stood as I reached land underneath my feet, the water dripping from my body. How did I get here? I had no idea. I climbed up out of the water as I reached shore and stood, shivering, in the sunlight. A cool wind blew which made it even colder. I rubbed my arms together and sat on the dull, brown grass on the side of the river. I looked about and saw nothing except more dull grassland for as far as I could see. Nothing. For three days I saw nothing and three nights I saw nothing. It was cold but, except for the thin grass, there wasn't anything to burn. I had no fire-steel so even if I had something to burn I couldn't light it. I was in Tartarus. 

On the morning of the fourth day as I looked around these horrible Gods-cursed grasslands as thought I saw something in the distance. I kept my eye on the spot all day and by early evening I was sure that a person was walking closer to the spot I was sitting on. The figure grew closer the next day and looked like they'd make it to me by early evening of the third day. I prayed to every God and Goddess I could think of to make this figure continue towards me. At the end of my sixth day out of the river water this figure walked into camp and woke me from an exhaustive slumber. I opened my eyes and looked into the deep cerulean blue eyes of my sister Hippolyta.

I stared at her wide eyed and slack jawed for a moment and then stammered out her name. "Hippolyta, is this you?" She said yes and then said I looked like her mother. After I told her who I was we had a good long cry and she told me her story about being reborn to bring peace back to the world. Then we went to sleep and slept entwined together. In the morning there were many Gods' given gifts of clothes and needed goods and something to eat! Finally, I told Hippolyta my story. All but Agathe, she was my hope, my light, my love, and I did not wish to share her with anyone. I cried as I told her of her loss, of my marriage, of my poor dead children. I wept as I recalled Hippolytus' death, but I smiled and laughed as I recalled Hippolytus' life. He was the joy of my life and I could tell she understood that.

We then set out on the next journey of our lives; bringing peace to the world.

Who would have thought that it would be so very difficult? The jealousy that filled men's hearts was an amazing yet horrible thing to behold. They didn't want to change; they were happy with their petty, little achievements and tyrannical acts. Bringing about peace was so very hard. But we finally did it for two small polis' in the area we awoke up in. It was a wonderful achievement. We both laughed and partied with the inhabitants of the polis'. And at the end of that night, well, at the end of this night we fell into each other arms and made love. I could say it was because of what we had achieved, but, truth be told, it wasn't. We had been skirting around this issue for some time with stolen kisses and caresses. It just happened. 

I would like to say that with one triumph the rest of the world was easy, but truth be told, it was actually harder to convince others to make peace. We felt lucky to make neighboring farmers make peace. Again, we started to pray for help. The Gods wouldn't have given us a Sisyphean task, would they? One morning, as we ate figs, and nuts, we talked about odd dreams we had been having. Both of us dreamed the same thing; going back to the Thermodon river where we had been born. We dreamt the same dream every night for a week. Finally, we followed our dream and headed to the edge of the river where I was found. The journey took us nearly two weeks to make but, when we did, we found thousands of us lining the shores and more were being born every minute. It was like watching schools of large beautiful fish being spawned. Amazing. I reached down and helped one being born stand in the water and then walked her to the shore. She said her name to me, her first utterance, Menalippe. I smiled, then said my name. Antiope. Then I moved on to the next.

When tens of thousands were born and ready we continued our mission and, after an undeterminable amount of years it was done. We had achieved peace in the land. But we should have known that we couldn't rest once it was over. Men conspired, because of jealousy, hatred, want, need, and they rose up and enslaved us. Both Hippolyta and I were enslaved by the same man, one Galen. Both of our lives were miserable but it was far worse for my sister who was forced to marry this man. I was just raped and beaten constantly by him and his friends. I admit, the pain was horrible, but I did not have to wed him.

Thank all the Gods my sister finally showed Galen my worth as a farmer and breeder. He put me to work caring for his farm and doing what was necessary to keep his breeding stock good. Sometime into this my sister came up with an idea on how we could escape and how, incidentally, we could free all the Amazons. Since I was out for a good four months a year selling barley grain and olive oil and hunting for breeding stock Hippolyta asked me to procure some weapons. Swords, shields, spears, bows and arrows. Once back she and I started practicing with them. Menalippe was being held at a farm close by so we brought her into our confidence and found out she was a Seer. When I went out each year I met with other Amazons and showed them what I had learned. They would pass this info on. We did this for years. As a group the Amazons became highly skilled warriors. 

When Menalippe finally Saw when we should attack I spread the word. Our attack was imminent. Finally, on the day designated anyone who slept with their masters' cut their throats in bed then released any other Amazon's from their shackles and bonds. War started as captives fought against their masters. Finally, the Amazonian nation followed my sister on her war of retribution. We had our first major battle with Troy. 

Our Trojan War has never been part of any epic. Our war was very different than the other one. First, the walls were large but not unassailable. There was an area in the northern part of the city where a natural canyon was used as part of the wall. Our scouts found a very narrow goat path through the canyon. The path was long. It took two full days to travel from one side of the canyon to the other, single file all the way. This was important. We attacked Troy from the front first, coming in with seven phalanxes of our best. We had cavalry on the flanks and groups of archers and slingers intermixed between the phalanxes. This attack drew most of the Trojan defenders to the front walls and left the canyon area lightly defended. This was good, very good.

The battle started just before dawn with barrages of arrows and slung stones flying over the walls. Then the first phalanx started to march forward. This was Menalippe's phalanx, named after herself, the black mare, and it was filled with the strongest the Amazonian army had to man it. They attacked the front gate itself and actually kept it from being bar locked. They kept pushing and pushing. Then they broke through and the gate was opened! It was a bloodbath as more and more troops poured into the lower city and the defenders were pushed towards the acropolis. While this happened hundreds of women made their way to our soldiers and asked to join us. This was the first time we experienced this mass exodus from who we were attacking to our own ranks. To be honest, we were completely unprepared for it. We quickly set up tents for them and Hippolyta spent time with each of them. Training was set up. I, however, had a war to fight.

The next morning, we started just after dawn. Our forces were led by archers and slingers this morning. They harassed the defenders of the walls and kept them occupied so that our troops could get through the goat path in the canyon. Menalippe's phalanx stood in readiness most of the day outside the gate, ready to attack. Around noon two other phalanxes arrived to back her up. At one, they attacked. Many died or were wounded but they kept pushing forward. I worked my way up to the front to stand by Menalippe and we pushed some more. The gate started to waver and shudder. Push harder! Push harder! Then our ladders went up and members of the phalanxes started to climb. Many died. I started to climb and made it over the top just a moment before the gate fell off its hinges. We were in! As we started advancing we heard our members coming up onto the acropolis from the canyon. We had taken the city. It was a rout. 

We made our first winter camp outside Troy. It was two-fold. One was rest. We needed it so badly having matched first from the Thermodon to here stopping and taking small polis on the way. More practice than not. We wanted to immolate our dead and there was lots of wood in lower Troy. We built a huge beautiful pyre outside the city on the Scamander plain and immolated our dead there. We immolated the Trojans inside the city in an ancient wooden living structure that was easily buried afterwards. Best to get them taken away too. We had nearly three thousand new recruits and we started training them on the Scamander plain. Inside the huge training square, we had completed inside our winter camp. 

Winter camp was more than new training for me. I met the second love of my life. Iole. She was a steppe horsewoman with exquisite corn-silk blond hair and eyes the blue of a cold winter blue sky. She had a sweet smile and a voracious taste for, well, me, I guess. She stalked me. Yes, stalked me. She followed me around for at least a month finding out everything about me that she could. Then we became friends. Then, I suppose, best friends covered our relationship. But that certainly didn't last for long. We became lovers, voracious lovers, who loved to experience love everywhere from in our bed to on a horse. Life was exciting and intoxicating. 

Our armies swept through the provinces of Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Aetolia, and, finally, Attica. We attacked the city states of Amphipolis, Pella, Dodoni, Ephyra, Larissa, Thyrium, Delphi (which we did not attack. We only went to the Oracle there. Besides, Delphi was the only city state that kept to the peace we had once tried to create.), Thebes, and Finally Athens, our most hated enemy. I suppose I became complacent, always expecting easy routs of our enemies and, truth be told, death only to our weakest and newest warriors. I was so very wrong. 

The battle for Athens was ugly, very ugly. We should have stopped for our winter camp before Athens but we were cocky. No, I was cocky. Despite the freezing cold and snow flurries I knew we could destroy this evil city state and free the women there. Any city state that routinely kept its women locked in their own homes without the ability to walk about was surely our most hated enemy! I envisioned the battle in three steps. The first to gut the phalanxes of the Athenians outside the gates. The second to take the lower city. The third to finally take the acropolis and, thusly, the entire city. I spent time envisioning the first battle. We would probably loose many of our cavalry but we would destroy the Athenian phalanxes. We held back four days from our original fight date due to the snow and ice but finally attacked. Again, we started with archers and slingers with arrows and stones blackening the sky with their flights. Then our seven phalanxes centered by Menalippe's Black Mare phalanx marched upon the city. The cavalry harassed both flanks of the enemies' phalanxes cutting through the enemy but taking great losses of both warriors and horses. The fighting was ugly in all areas but worse with the cavalry. I traveled from archers to slingers to all seven phalanxes to the left flank of the cavalry and finally to the right flank of the cavalry. And then I felt such… By all the Gods ever prayed to I felt…

I found her there. I saw as she took the aichme of the sarissa in her gut and fell from her horse to the ground. I ran towards my Iole using my bow to kill any member of the enemy phalanx that I could reach but I ran out of arrows after two dozen. Each had scored a kill but I didn't care at all. I dropped my bow as I got to her and cradled her in my arms. I could tell it was bad. I smelled the stink of a fatal gut wound. She looked at me with a worried look in her eye. 

"My love, I won't be able to marry you." She had asked me just the night before and I had agreed to marry her.

"Ssshh, ssshh my heart, don't worry." I started crying.

"I want to marry you, you know."

"I do." I was crying so hard by this time.

"I hurt."

"Let me take your pain."

"You can't."

"I love you so very much Iole." I was bawling by now. My heart was breaking. I, I had killed my love.

"I know… and I'm lucky."

"What? Why?"

"Because you love me as much as I love you." Blood was starting to drip from her mouth. This wouldn't last much longer. 

"My heart…" but it was too late. She was gone. I was heartbroken. I held her closer as I bawled and keened. The world stopped for me, completely.

I don't remember the next amount of time… what was time? I remember freezing. I remember crying. I remember wanting to die. I remember trying to die. Then there was warmth and my sister, my sister Hippolyta, holding me throughout the night. She convinced me to let some of her guards carry my love. No, I wanted to… but I couldn't. So, they did. 

We arrived at the death tent and went inside. Here I bent down and kissed my Iole after we had gone to the table in the back. My sister asked how I knew her, was she one of my lovers… One of? She was my only… what?

I went off on my sister then. I had tried more than once to tell her that I loved this woman more than life itself but to no avail. I picked up my Iole and I left the tent. I didn't care anymore. I knew death. I knew Thanatos quite well thank you. I could prepare her and send her to the afterlife on my own. I knew what I was doing, didn't I? But then Phillipus, my sister's favorite ypolochagos, came with a priestess and they helped me do the rites. Penthesilea showed up with some of her hippeis to help. With their help I immolated her and buried her remains with the highest honors, a gold obolus, suitable grave goods, and a beautiful cairn. I then walked away.

Two days later was the second battle for Athens, the taking of the poorer outlying town. I fought like I had never fought before. I didn't care if I lived or died and I fought as such. I'm told that I killed over a hundred by myself that day, but I have no idea. All I know is that I killed and killed and killed and they died and died and died. I was angry, no, furious throughout the fight. I don't know nor do I care. I just fought and I killed. And, most importantly, I died inside with every death I caused.

I remember Phillipus coming to my aide once again. Her coming and being with me meant so very much. My sister adored Phillipus and Phillipus worshiped my sister. Hippolyta had no idea how much Phillipus cared for her and she wouldn't admit how much she cared for Phillipus. But, no matter what she felt Phillipus was here with me which meant my sister had sent her. Phillipus made me feel loved by my sister. We took Athens completely after the third battle. Destroying that city and killing that fool Theseus was the best thing I had ever done. But I didn't care. Why care? My life was over and my life was forfeit. So, Athens suffered. She suffered like no other city had. I felt no remorse. She had sent raiders out for years; raping, pillaging, murdering raiders. It was payback time. Let them all die. 

At the end of winter camp the following year I finally made up with Hippolyta. It felt good. I was home again.

We then moved on to the province of Arcadia and destroyed, in order, Corinth, Olympia, Argos, and, finally, Sparta. Our war was finally over. Now what? I had no idea what to do. Thank all the Gods for Hippolyta though. She made a deal with Zeus himself and, without him changing into some giant swan or a bull or a ray of sunshine to be with her. She had sex with him and he gave her a place of freedom to go to. She had his child so that we could all go to this place of safety.

But, before our move, before any of us moved, the War of the Gods occurred and the only way to get out was to create the Godkiller. This was a hard decision for my sister. To go from having a lustful God's child to having it so it would become a weapon is a long one. We talked she and I. We could keep fighting. There were many lands we had not fought in nor conquered. Many places to see. We could become traders and live at sea. We could trade the great trade routes of the east. We could become mercenaries. There was a great council meeting were we all discussed this problem. We elected senators and they spoke and orated. Finally, it was decided. Hippolyta would bear the Godkiller and we would disappear from the world. We, as a people, were tired. It made sense. 

I honestly don't know where all the ships came from, we did build some, but one morning looking out at the port there were hundreds of them. We spent six weeks loading everything we had onto these ships and then set sail. After nearly a month at sea, in which we didn't lose a single ship, we came to a beautiful paradise-like island. It was huge, nearly the size of Crete and right next to the Thermodon, where we all started. This was our new home. Of course, Zeus was a cruel God not a merciful one, we had to build everything ourselves, but we had our campaign tents, so we did have places to live. We brought horses but little else. However, here, the Gods were merciful. There were goats, sheep, deer, pigs, bear, birds of all kinds, cows, and the fishing was amazing. All that we could need or even imagine was here. There were also many caves that formed the bases of our cities. Plenty of building materials from wood to stone. It was all here. We first thanked the Gods and especially the Goddesses who we loved, admired, and praised.

Now we had to name our home. The main city, where the palace, senate chambers, and military were based was named Themiscyra after the polis closest to the Thermodon River were many of us were reborn. The island we named the same. But there were many towns and villages throughout the island that were each named by those who lived there. The soil was phenomenal. Vineyards grew as did great fields of flax and barley. Fruit groves with olives, lovely lemons, oranges, limes, apples, peaches, plums, persimmons, pomegranates, figs, dates, nuts, oh by lovely Demeter the nuts, and a multitude of other flowering trees and plants. We traded for silk and, for those who wished it. It was ideal. Life was ideal. 

I wanted to look at farming again and animal husbandry, but my sister needed me to continue as strategos. This made me sad in many ways as I loved it so but, well, I must do what was needed, mustn't I? However, I certainly did not need to do it all myself. I decided to hold a competition for a lochagos. I needed a captain below me. What if I wanted to take a day off to go, what? Smell flowers? No matter what reason I might come up for one it was a good idea to have someone who could take over in case of major illness or death. I had five ypolochagoi (Phillipus, Orana, Artemis, Menalippe, and Penthesilea) and one of them would be perfect. But which one? Each had their strong points, each had their weak points. A contest was perfect. It could also be used as entertainment for the rest of the Amazon nation. The fighting certainly wouldn't be to the death, but more like the Olympic games of yore. (I wonder if they had brought those back after we sacked their city?)

The contest lasted two days and, truth be told, it was brutal. The injuries were terrifying. From simple broken jaws to complete thru the body spear wounds. One thing though, there really was only one person who kept asking for her opponents to yield. And it just so happened that this woman won also. Fair fights all. Now Menalippe was her lochagos and the others, all four of them, were her ypolochagoi. Now that that was settled training began. Admittedly it did get out of control, but it proved to be fun, especially learning to rapid repel down the cliffs. Orana and her archers were phenomenal to watch leaping off the cliffs at a full run and shooting an anchor point into the rock and swinging down shooting arrows as they went. Then there were the obstacle courses around both the training yard and the island itself. The ones through the city itself were wonderful practice of inner city fighting techniques and skills. Finally, there were the games which happened four times a year. Each a specialty for certain skills. The horsemanship games, held in conjunction with the horse roundup with all the incoming mount inspection, was spectacular. This once a year event brought out all the best in the new nation, from art to plays to parties. The only better was the yearly anniversary of our arrival event.

When my sister reached her time, I was there to help her as well as two other midwifes and followers of the Goddess Eileithyia walked her and finally put her in the birthing chair. My sister's screams reverberated throughout the palace for three days. Before that precious bundle of pure joy slipped into my hands. I washed her in warm water and cut her cord with a grin the size of the palace on my face. She was so perfect, so absolutely perfect. She had dark brown expressive eyes and what looked like dark hair coming in. I brought her to her mother and introduced them. Hippolyta took her child with a look of both awe and joy on her face. It was wonderful to see. I did experience loss for a few moments. I so missed my Hippolytus, but I got over it and I sat and experienced my sister's joy with her. It was wonderful.

I listened to the island explode with celebrations after Diana's birth. This child, birthed by my sister, belonged to all.

During Diana's first year something else grabbed my attention, well, someone else actually. I started to really notice my lochagos. Menalippe was gorgeous, with long dark hair and the most expressive beautiful golden, brown eyes. She was tall, certainly taller than I, and had pale, pale skin. She had dimples, awfully cute ones too, and she smiled a lot, it lit up the world. She was lithe and strong and well, I had it bad. I hadn't felt this way since Iole. What a wonderful, horrible, way to spend every moment of every day. I finally could take it no more, I went and talked to my sister. She gave me excellent advice and, surprise, surprise, I followed it. It worked. By all the Gods Menalippe smiled at me that first night I told her I liked her and we kissed; Aphrodite taught her this art, all I wanted was her. The Month all we did was kiss was both wonderful and horrible. I'd leave her at home and hurry back to the palace to fuck myself into oblivion. I wanted her so much. I could imagine her taste…. Oh Gods… I had it so bad. But then we consummated our relationship and, despite the fact that I still had it bad, I could think again. Thank the Gods for that.

I asked her to marry me some years later in the baths after a day's training. She actually squealed in excitement which took me over the edge again. After kissing her long and hard I lifted her up and carried her back to our house. We had only moved in a short while back and I loved the fact that it was just ours. I made her, well, helped her, made her feel… face it, we had a lot of sex there. Home sweet home. The wedding was, in one completely inadequate word, amazing. I've been to many weddings before, including those in my original life and in my new life, but I've never experienced anything like it. The day was extraordinarily long but went by so fast it felt as if it lasted only ten minutes. The wedding started for me the night before when my wife danced publically for me at our favorite caupona. Everyone on the island was in on this little secret. They made it seem like it was a dancing contest and my wife just happened to decide to dance in it. Sneaky. Anyway, she took my breath away and, at the end, everyone in the caupona made my heart soar. I so wanted to carry her home again but my sister and Artemis, acting as mothers, took us away from each other. We couldn't sleep together that night. We couldn't even sleep in the same house. This was a very mean thing to do after she danced for me, but, tradition. 

The next morning, I was woken early by sister, sister-in-law, and niece who jumped on me. They wanted to surprise me with an early akratismos or breakfast. The sun wasn't even up yet. I grumbled at first but then remembered what day it was. I was so absolutely ready. I ate only a small akratismos as I was only able to get a couple of bites of bread and a small fig down. I was so excited. The ceremony finally began with the ritual bathing in a tent out near the practice training fields. I was rubbed down completely with sweet smelling oil and processed to an area where I made obeisance to Ares. I decided to sacrifice my favorite xiphos to Ares and had Io bring a traveling forge to the area of my sacrifice. While she was stoking the coals, I dug a good sized hole to bury my sacrifice. Once the hole was dug and the fire hot enough I placed my xiphos on it until it became red hot. Then, using one of Io's strongest hammers, I struck it hard breaking it into three pieces. I quenched those in ice cold water and then buried them in the hole. This weapon had killed so many in Ares service that I prayed that sacrificing it to Him would be a suitable sacrifice. Then, after being washed again and clad in a new chiton I and my wedding party headed to Artemis' altar. There, outshining the sunlight stood my love. I lost track of everything except for her.

The rest of the morning was just a blur. We sacrificed, were washed and changed, processed to the next altar where we did the same. Eventually we made it to the Heraion were we did this all for the last time. We were then pronounced married and introduced as such. My heart soared! We did the silly crane dance and had a lot of fun dancing it and then spent the rest of the afternoon in a blur. I wish I remembered but all I can remember was the glorious Goddess that was my wife. My wife… that sounded so very good! At dusk we were placed in a golden chariot and driven to our home where the chariot was taken apart and the wheels and axle were burned in a bonfire. Lit torches were placed in the ground outside our house and we were taken inside and shown both the bride price and dowry while Artemis and my sister Hippolyta readied the bedchamber for us. Then, finally, we were left alone as everyone except for us left the house. After they all left my wife and I had our ways with each other and we then fell asleep in each other's arms. 

I knew yesterday that marrying this goddess of my heart was the right thing to do and every moment since the ceremony I knew it to be true. Menalippe was my soul mate and I couldn't imagine life without her. Her smile, her eyes, her being, it all affected me in such a way that I truly knew she was for me. Many good years followed; many good days followed; some horrible days and times did exist but they were always washed clean by sleeping in my beautiful wife's arms. My nightmares were assuaged by her kisses. I can't even begin to explain in words how I felt about her. I thanked every God and Goddess daily for her love. There wasn't anything that I wouldn't do for her. Anything.

Menalippe's nightmares had begun years ago, but I finally got her to tell me about them. She was Seeing something that scared her to death. Through much cajoling I finally found out that she was seeing me… dead. This, this scared me like… my breath caught in my throat. By all the Gods I thought I was dying right there and then. But I couldn't show it. By Zeus how could I show my fear to my wife who was seeing it happen over and over again and was terrified? I HAD to be strong. I swallowed my own fear and comforted her as much as I was able. I never thought of dying here on this island. How was it possible? Over the years these episodes of terror became part of our lives. Menalippe would see her terrors. I would try my damnedest to comfort her. I would become terrified myself and she would try to comfort me. It was a wicked circle that only Euclid or another Mathematician could ever figure out. I tried to make a joke out of it, but that only made it worse. Sigh. What could I do to ease my wife's fear? What could I do to ease my own fear? Was there anything I could do? 

I finally decided that all I could truly do was be there for my wife. My own fear be damned. My wife came first. So, if she suggested that we go away for a day or two I made sure we did it. She wanted more flowering shrubs… I got them. She wanted more cats, fine (I loved them too mind you). She wanted to stay home and fuck all day instead of going to training, fine with me. In everything she came first. Hippolyta once asked me what I was doing and why I indulged Menalippe's every desire. I lied and said something about it was my desire not hers. I couldn't tell Hippolyta what was happening. I was Atlas; this was my boulder to shoulder, not hers. Whatever she wanted became my saying. 

Despite the horror of my wife's nightmares life was mostly a happy affair. I honestly never thought my life could or would be so wonderful. I am truly blessed by the Gods. I watched Diana grow and gather strength. She makes me so proud. From the day she slid into my arms through every day of her existence she is a Gods sent joy. I love her so much. I certainly have more reasons to be happy and proud than most. From my loving and beautiful wife to a niece who I adore to a sister who is both wise and funny I have it all.

I remember walking on the shore with my wife's hand in mine. I remember riding together to a secret place, quiet, secluded. I remember my wife riding me, so soft, so beautiful.

Diana ran away murmuring that she was sorry while I lay on the ground with Menalippe telling me not to move as I was bleeding. Then I heard Hippolyta scream from the cliff's edge "Get away from him Diana!" Him? Oh Gods, they were back! I got up and ran towards my horse with my cavalry following. We raced to the shore using the main roadway and burst out onto the beach into chaos. We formed a large V with myself as the vertex. I shot an arrow and took my first man out in over 2000 years. Then we were on them and my sword rose and fell once and I was flying through the air, my horse screaming in agony below and behind me. I hit the ground hard but instantly spotted someone's bow and arrows in a quiver on the ground. They became mine as I took the dozen arrows (less a couple really) and slammed them into the ground point first then started shooting at everything I could see. Once out of arrows I started to punch and then heard my wife's war cry. I turned and saw her under fire and started beating my way towards her, finally reaching down and grabbing another bow and three arrows. I ran to her yelling "SHIELD!" as I got closer. She turned and planted herself holding her shield out horizontal to the ground. I ran and leapt onto the shield as she lifted me high and I flew up and over the rocks to shoot and kill her attackers. I hit the ground and turned to Diana and saw one about to shoot her. I screamed "NO!" and leapt in front of the weapon and felt a powerful blow hit my chest. I hit the ground and then Diana was there. I told her that she was the Godkiller and she must fight but she didn't understand me. I heard my wife's voice, far away yelling "N….." The world faded away.

I opened my eyes to see Charon's ugly strained face nodding yes, I could get on the boat. I looked down and saw five coins in my hand. "Five?" I looked around and saw four children, three boys and a perfect beautiful girl. I grabbed their hands and took them with me. My family with me, onto the boat. I could see Agathe and Iole on the other side waiting for me. Menalippe would come soon enough, as would my sister. My family waited for me. I went to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this.
> 
> It will be a couple of weeks before I post again. My life is getting in the way. Then again, maybe not. It'll depend on circumstances! 8-D


End file.
